Continuity Error
by Galadriel1010
Summary: After Ianto dies in his arms, and Jack runs away, and a different Ianto comes crashing into his life, Jack is back in Cardiff with the new Ianto, nearly ready to save the world again. Sequel to Gravitational potential. Parallel!Ianto. Episodic story.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note:** New story! This is the next of my parts of the Transcendence 'verse - also known as 'BRB, Timewarp'. It follows on immediately from my Gravitational Potential, which follows on from Starlight Promises (but not directly), which follows on from And Then Some, both of the latter two written by the stupendous LiquidLash.

I would advise reading all of these, but it's not strictly /neccesary/. Just a good idea. There is a page on Facebook for the collection of stories as we build it.

This story will take the form of thirteen 'episodes' and this prologue. And so, if you're sitting comfortably...

Let us begin.

* * *

Jack stapled Ianto's passport photo to the top of his Torchwood employment record and slipped it in after his own in the 'active' section of his employee file. Lizzy and Ally would join them at the start of the next week, and John wasn't officially a Torchwood employee, he was a freelancer. A fresh start, and jack was the last man standing again. He smiled as he knelt by the bookcase to slide the file onto the bottom shelf and thought about Ianto, this Ianto who had been dragged through from another universe so that they could heal each other forever. Ianto who thought that a suit was highly impractical for most Torchwood work, who swore and smoked and drank lagers that the other Ianto... the Ianto who had died in his arms because of Torchwood, who had left his heart battered and bleeding and near death. But this Ianto wasn't a replacement, he smiled at the thought as he heard Ianto coming up the stairs, his steel toe-capped boots heavier on the stairs than his predecessors had been. Ianto hadn't been replaced or reclaimed, Jack would always love him, but his heart had been healed and there was space for two Ianto's in there with all the others he would treasure forever.

Ianto pushed the door of Jack's office open with his hip and put the mugs down on the surface of the desk as quickly as he could without spilling, then blew on his fingers and picked the closest mug up gingerly. He looked around the room as he took a sip of the coffee and put it back down again, frowning as Jack shoved a pile of papers in underneath before it hit the surface of the desk. "You've got a lot done in here," he commented, sitting on the corner of the desk whilst Jack sank into the office chair. It was out of place in here, surrounded as it was by two antique oak desks and matching cupboard and bookcase, but Jack had bowed to Lizzy's insistence that they get something that wouldn't ruin their backs every time they had to use them to write a long report. The computers fitted surprisingly well with the antique theme, dark wood juxtaposed with the silvery casings that Jack had chosen and the blue light from the monitor in the wall. The desks were back to back across the small room, set against the walls with enough room to walk between them and the monitors attached to the wall above them to increase desk space. Outside in the team work area, four corner desks had been set out in a rectangle, with a fifth workbench-cum-desk forming one long side and the opposite side taken up with the space where the Doctor, Jack and John were slowly rebuilding the Rift Manipulator. Jack was silent still, apparently trying to drown himself in coffee vapours, so Ianto reached out and poked him with the toe of his boot. "How are you getting on in here, Jack?"

"Oh, nearly done, I think," he looked up at Ianto at last and smiled, though it failed to get anywhere near his eyes. "There's so much that was in here and..." he closes his eyes and when he opens them again they are pleading. "Get me out of here, please?"

Ianto nodded and reached over to take Jack's hand and pull him out of his chair. They were alone in the Hub - John and the Doctor were off on a trip across the universe to get the bits they needed for the Rift Manipulator and Ally and Lizzy hadn't officially started work at Torchwood yet – and Ianto powered the computers down whilst Jack pulled his coat on. They went out through the Tourist Information office and ducked their heads as they emerged into the teeth of a biting wind and icy-cold rain thickened by hints of the Winter's first snow. Ianto took Jack's hand again and they ran up the slippery wooden ramp that led to Mermaid Quay, shaking water out of their eyes as they dived straight into the restaurant at the top. Whilst they waited to be seated, Ianto wrapped his hand around the back of Jack's neck and pulled him in so that his head was tucked between Ianto's cheek and his shoulder and his thumb drifted through the damp hair at the nape of Jack's neck. When they were seen to, at last, Jack pulled away reluctantly and shivered slightly, his hand still planted firmly on Ianto's waist. They were shown to a table on the upper level against the balustrade and Jack draped their coats over it, vaguely hoping that they wouldn't drip too badly onto people below.

He sat down opposite Ianto, who was already perusing the menu with a mildly perplexed expression, and picked one up himself. Ianto indicated that he'd made a decision by putting his menu down firmly and resting his chin in both his hands to watch Jack, who immediately hid behind his own menu. The end of a finger hooked over the top of it and Ianto was eying him seriously. "I like the look of the Mega Beef Burger."

Jack smiled, a bright flash that was gone almost instantly, and looked back at the menu with a slight frown creasing his forehead. "I like the look of the steak and mushroom pie."

"Well we might have to agree to disagree, then," Ianto suggested. "And eat different meals."

The smile came again, flashed brighter and lingered longer, and the menu disappeared from between them. Jack's hand crept across the table and his fingers brushed the back of Ianto's hand gently. "Is this a date, Ianto?"

It was soft and genuine, and Ianto turned his hand over to invite Jack further in. "I suppose it might be," he agreed. "Our first, I guess," he smiled and tightened his grip as Jack took his hand properly. "Are you going to let me walk you home afterwards?"

Jack chuckled at last, and then his face fell. "Only if we have somewhere to go."

Ianto's mood also fell as he too remembered that 'home' was a blue box that wasn't in the city at that moment. The upswing was almost instant, though, as he looked out into the darkness and saw reflected lights through the pouring rain. He retrieved his hand and grabbed his phone from his pocket, getting the feeling that John would accuse him of having 'the light of mischief' in his eye if he were there to see it. But he wasn't, it was just Jack and Ianto having an 'okay' meal and, he hoped, a much better night. The waitress came and took their orders whilst he navigated it, and he managed to get his phone put away before the food arrived, giving him time to reclaim Jack's hand and pull it to his mouth so that he could kiss the base of his thumb. "All sorted," he smiled and saw Jack's smile light in his eyes first, rather than the other way around. "And now you're going to have to let me walk you home, because I know where home is."

Jack's index finger reached out and brushed at Ianto's bottom lip, and his eyes took a moment to flick up to his eyes. "I'm sure I won't protest too much," he pulled their hands down to the table and looked over to the waitress coming up the stairs with their food, some uncanny sense that Ianto had yet to figure out telling him that she was coming. "And I might even invite you in for a nightcap, if you're good."

They leaned back and broke apart so that the waitress could put the food in front of them, and Ianto stared at his burger in bemusement. "That's... how am I supposed to eat that?" he questions with amusement. "No one's got a mouth that big."

"I could manage it," Jack smirked, cutting into his steak pie.

Ianto glanced up at him and down to his plate again, then started to take the burger apart until it was a more manageable size. "I bet you could," he murmured with as much confidence as he could find.

Jack's thumb brushed the back of his hand as they both reached for the ketchup and his ankle pressed against Ianto's. Whilst Ianto rebuilt his burger and dug into one of the sauce soaked onion rings, Jack piled a fork full of pastry, steak and mushroom and ate it slowly. Ianto looked up again to find a fork waving in his face, tempting him. "Try the pie?" Jack offered. "The steak is excellent."

With a flash of a smile, Ianto leaned forwards and opened his mouth, closing his eyes and his mouth at the same time as he savoured it. Jack's thumb brushed under his lip, wiping away what he was sure was an imaginary drip of gravy – not that he minded. When he opened his eyes again, Jack's smile was apologetic and he was concentrating on his food. "You're right, the steak is to die for."

Jack grinned and nodded. "How's the burger?"

Ianto shrugged, picked it up, glared at it, and took a tentative bite. Jack smirked at him and he rolled his eyes, then swallowed and held it out. "It's delicious, try it?"

He covered Ianto's hands to bring the burger close enough and held them in place whilst he took a bite. Ianto grinned and retrieved his dinner and hands from Jack's grasp and took another mouthful. Jack rested his chin in one hand to watch him. "You really don't mind, do you?" he asked happily.

Ianto swallowed. "Mind what?"

"What people think. Of you, of us..."

"Oh..." he took another bite to give himself time to think and Jack did the same, apparently satisfied with this conclusion. "No, I don't," Ianto agreed when he could. "I mean... it shouldn't. I know it shouldn't. It takes some convincing, like when those girls in the corner gave a very disapproving look when you took my hand, but I realised that it's just because they wanted one or both of us."

Jack grinned, choked, swallowed and shook his head. "Flawless logic, I approve."

Ianto smiled and got on with his burger, eyes fixed distantly out of the window. The rain had lessened slightly, judging by the reflections on the Bay, and he could make out individual establishments rather than a smudge of light. Jack's finger brushed his cuff where it rested against the surface of the table and he looked up with a smile. "Just admiring the view," he reassured him. "It's all gone a bit abstract."

"Yeah," Jack's voice was nothing more than a breath and his eyes were soft and distant when Ianto looked around at him. "It has really."

Jack helped Ianto with his coat when they got up to leave, long after their plates had been taken and they'd drunk coffees and Ianto had paid for the meal. They headed back out into the rain, heads ducked and shoulders hunched until Jack threw his head back and closed his eyes to let the rain wash across his face. Ianto threw caution to the howling winds and tucked himself close to Jack, resting his chin on his shoulder and hiding his face in his exposed neck when Jack's arms wrapped around him almost automatically. They stayed their, wrapped together with Jack's hand resting on the back of Ianto's neck and Ianto's arms wrapped around Jack's body underneath his coat. Jack's cheek eventually drifted down along Ianto's until his breath tickled across Ianto's ear with the words, "If it weren't for the rain, I could get pregnant."

Ianto nuzzled against Jack's cheek to show that he'd heard whilst he digested this information. It was big, it was huge, it had enormous potential, but at the moment it was just one of those things – Jack couldn't get pregnant, but if they tried he might be able to. "I guess... I should be glad of the rain then," he decided out loud, smiling when Jack's arms tightened around him and the steady breath over his ear became somehow steadier. "For the moment, at least. Now come on, it's wet, and pneumonia is miserable even when you know you're going to survive it."

"I know," Jack kept hold of Ianto's hand as he slipped away and followed him. "Where are we going, then?"

"Tesco first," he smiled. "For 'dessert'. And then there," he pointed with the hand that was holding Jack's and the action drew Jack closer behind him. "The wonders of mobile internet, they have rooms free tonight."

"Come on then," Jack looked down from the towering St David's Hotel to Ianto's smile and pushed even closer. "Walk me home?"


	2. An Old Friend

Jack sat at the head of the table and looked down it to the Doctor at the far end. Ianto pushed the tray of coffees and bacon sandwiches into the middle of the table and sat down between Jack and Ally, opposite John. Ally and, opposite her, Lizzy, reached for coffees without taking their eyes from Jack. Finally, with coffee in front of him, he pushed ID cards down the table past Ianto and John. "Alexandra Jennifer Watson, and Elizabeth Jade Mortimer, welcome to Torchwood."

They both swiped their cards off the table and studied them. Ally giggled. "That's an awful photo of me."

Jack sighed and picked his mug up with a smile. "Of course it is, it's your passport photo."

"Yeah, but... Am I really that fat?"

Lizzy snatched it off her and stared it. "Wow, Ally, I never realised you were that ugly! It's not a flattering photo, dear, that's all."

"Good to know."

"If you've finished..." He smiled into his coffee as he sipped it. "Torchwood is back in business. John, Doctor, I need you two to get the Rift manipulator going. Ally, I need you to familiarise yourself with the reporting system and see if there's anything we need to look at. Ianto, you help her. Lizzy, I'm going to take you to the police station to introduce you to Gwen and her team there. Any questions?" There was silence. "Good, Lizzy, with me. No one's to go in the archives without me, okay?"

He grabbed a sandwich as he got up and drained his coffee, then left it on the table and strode from the room. Behind him, Lizzy gave the rest of them a wide-eyed look and got up to follow him from the room. He led her up to the garage and gestured to the passenger door of his car. "Come on, I'll brief you as we go."

"Jack, why me?" She asked, pulling the door closed behind her.

"Human resources," he grinned across at her and started the engine. "You'll get on with Gwen, I need you to be our liaison with her if stuff gets reported t the police or if we need backup. You'll call her, or she'll call you, that's all. I want you to keep in touch with her regularly."

"Okay, so it's just communication stuff?"

"Yep, and you need to keep a record of any communications, even if nothing comes of them. Save the audio file on the server if it's a phone call, make notes whatever it is. Emails get forwarded to the archive as well."

"Got it. What's Gwen like?"

"You met her," he frowned and thought about how to explain it. "She's nice. Likes people, but over-sympathetic for our work I think. You'll like her."

"Okay."

They finished the drive to the police station in silence and were directed straight to Gwen's office, where she was buried in paperwork. She pushed it aside as soon as she saw Jack, though, and hurried across to hug him. "Jack! I wasn't expecting you until later this afternoon."

He smirked and pushed her away slightly. "Gwen, this is Lizzy. She's one of our new team members, and she'll be your liaison at Torchwood."

"Nice to meet you," Lizzy offered Gwen her hand. "You're alright, I only started today, Jack's not had time to tell me anything about you."

"Well then," Gwen squeezed her hand and pulled her into the room. "We'd better get started then. Go on, Jack, I know you want to get back. I'll look after Lily for a while."

"It's Lizzy," Jack corrected her, resting his hand protectively on Lizzy's shoulder.

"I don't mind," Lizzy laughed. "We'll be okay, Jack. Call me if you need me for anything."

Shooed from the room, Jack hurried back out to the car and headed back to the Hub. The sounds of activity washed over him as he entered and no one really seemed to notice he was there. He took the opportunity to study Ally and Ianto at work. Ianto appeared to have grasped the system easily and was explaining it to Ally, but she was responding with sharp gestures and short responses, a sign of growing irritation. Jack wandered over to them and rested his hand on the back of Ianto's neck, leaning forwards to see what they were looking at. Ianto tipped his head against Jack's wrist and reached out to point at the screen. "Right," he said calmly, "so what would you do with that one?"

"Email it to you and get you to deal with it," she snapped, pushing away from the desk and turning to face them. "The system is hideously complicated."

"It's just different," Jack soothed. "What are we looking at?"

"Reports of a dragon over the Brecon Beacons," Ianto enlarged it. "Protcol is to assign keywords and then search the database."

"Good, so what keywords would you use?"

"Umm..." He scrolled through the short report again. "Brecon Beacons, flying lizard, dragon, livestock mutilation."

"And what results do you get?"

Ianto sighed and entered the details. "Fifteen results. One result in the last five years."

"Which was?"

"A pteranodon, sightings reported as far North as Llantony Priory, it was contained on the Cardiff Docks by..."

Jack cut him off, "I know, I was there. Get your coat, we're going dinosaur hunting," he turned and bounded up the stairs. "Ally, you too. Time to see how you cope in the field."

"We're going dinosaur hunting? Jack, that thing's been ripping through the ovine population of mid Wales, it'll take more than three of us. Unless you have a very big gun."

He bit back his irritation and shrugged his coat on. Ianto arrived in time to help him settle it on his shoulders, and his palms smoothing across his back were like a salve to his temper. "I have a secret weapon, as it happens. Dark chocolate."

"High seratonin levels are good for dinosaur hunting?" Ianto asked as he pulled on his battered leather jacket.

"Not for me," he slipped his gun into its holster and grabbed his wallet. "For Myfanwy."

"Myfanwy?"

"Yeah, the dinosaur's Torchwood's pet - she lived here for three years, must have been living wild for a year and a half. I'm amazed she survived," he grinned as fond memories and joy at her survival flooded through him. "Maybe she went South for the Winter. We did once have to bring her back from Morocco."

"I bet that was dreadful for you," Ianto teased as they headed back out to the car.

"Oh it was," he agreed. "It took us a week, in January. In a four star hotel paid for by Torchwood."

"The whole team?" Ally asked.

"Nope," he pulled the drivers' door open. "Just me and Ianto."

"And you left the hotel?" Ianto asked. "No, wait, no wonder it took so long."

He laughed and shook his head. "It made up for not getting a Christmas. Anyway, I want to get her back into the Hub where we can keep her warm before the winter really hits. It shouldn't take too long, we'll be back in time for the appointment."

"What appointment?" Ally asked as she chucked her back into the back and clambered in.

"House viewing over the other side of the Bay," Ianto glared at Jack slightly, then sighed and relaxed back into his seat as Jack brushed a thumb across his thigh. "We've got an appointment at 7 tonight."

"That'll be nice," she leaned against the window and looked out at Bute Street. "You not a fan of house hunting, Ianto?"

"No," he grunted, tracing a pattern on the back of Jack's hand. "It's all his idea," but he smiled dryly and flattened his hand over Jack's. "I'm sure I'll cope."

They sped out of Cardiff on the main road to the Brecon Beacons, and Jack took advantage of the automatic gearbox to keep his hand on Ianto's leg the whole time. Ianto kept it covered it with his own and laced their fingers together whilst he tracked Myfanwy on the scanner in his other hand. "Head for Hay Bluff, Jack," he instructed. "That looks like as good a place to start as any."

He nodded and kept flicking his gaze up to the sky. "She used to have haunts up the A470 – has she been sticking around there?"

"Um... yeah, mostly up where it diverges from the A438 – hence Hay Bluff."

"Really? Long way north for her," he commented. "Bloody bird."

"So tell me the story?" a glance in the rear view mirror told Jack that Ally's eyes were shut, rather than looking out for dinosaurs. "Why is there a pterodactyl loose in the Welsh countryside?"

"Because when the Hub was blown up," Jack started and transferred both of his hands to the steering wheel so that he could grip it tightly, "she was outside stretching her wings for the night, safe from the destruction we never actually knew to protect her from."

"But... what's a pterodactyl doing in Wales in the twenty first century?" she asked, sounding exasperated. "They're not a contemporaneous species."

Ianto reached over to turn the radio and squirmed around in his seat. "You know the Rift, the massive fault in the Time-Space Continuum that we patrol?"

"Yeah..." she was silent and Jack glanced back at her again. "Oh. Yeah. I get it. Carry on," her voice brightened and she turned her attention to the skies. "Are we any closer, Ianto?"

He looked down at the scanner again and shook his head. "Nothing yet, just a direction. We're going the right way, anyway."

They lapsed into silence, the only sounds in the SUV coming from the radio and the computers. Jack's hand crept back to Ianto's and he clung on, rooting himself in the present with that grip. A light rain had started falling by the time Ianto's scanner gave another beep, and he dragged his attention down to it from the middle distance. His grip on Jack's hand tightened momentarily, but then released so that he could use both his hands. "Got her!" he leaned forwards and checked the direction, pointing. "You need to take the A40, she's by Llangorse Lake."

"Good work Ianto," he glanced at the Sat Nav and turned his focus back to the road again. "We're about half an hour off, I think."

"Good," Ianto looked up at the sky. "We may just manage to get her in before it starts pissing it down properly."

"Have you not noticed, Ianto," Ally yawned her way through the sentence. "We're in Wales. It's always pissing it down."

Ianto grunted and focused his attention on sweeping the skies for any sign of Myfanwy against the darkening sky, leaving Jack free to concentrate on the road as they turned off onto the smaller one leading to Llangorse Lake. The sky was darkening fast ahead of them in the East, and heavy cloud cover obscured the moon where it should be rising. A large blob of rain landed right in the middle of Jack's vision, and he sighed heavily as he flicked the wipers on. "Just our luck," Ianto muttered next to him. "We're nearly there too."

Jack smiled and shrugged. "Get used to it. As Ally pointed out, it rains in Wales."

"Yeah, and some of us don't have warm, solid boyfriends to warm us up," Ally grumbled with her face pressed against the glass. "Can't you two share yourselves around a bit?"

"No," Jack leaned forwards and peered into the darkness. "I thought I saw something..."

"I did too," Ianto agreed, checking his scanner. "She's... it could be her."

"You don't sound convinced?"

Ianto snorted. "I'm sorry, I've never seen a Pteranodon in the flesh before, I'm not entirely certain what I'm looking for."

"Big, bird like, but a dinosaur," ally leaned forwards between the seats. "I can't see a bloody thing."

Jack sighed and pushed her back, then pulled off the road into a field. "Ally, pass me the bag from the other footwell."

It appeared between the seats and he took it from her, then returned to pressing buttons on his wrist strap. "What do we do now?" Ianto asked quietly, eyes fixed on the sky. "I think she's spotted us."

"Probably," Jack agreed with a grimace. He'd set Myfanwy's recall signal off, and it was right on the cusp of his hearing, guaranteed to give him a headache like nothing else could. "Can either of you hear that?"

"That?"

"High pitched oscillating whine," he rubbed at his forehead and pulled the bars of chocolate out of the bag. "Never mind."

Ianto got out the other side and stuck close by the SUV whilst Jack stepped out into the open. He could see her wheeling overhead now so he turned slightly and gestured to the bag. "Ianto, can you prepare the tranquillisers? The stuff's all in the black case in the bag."

"Got it," he confirmed. "What's the plan?"

"I lure her down, you two come over here and meet her," he ducked slightly as she swooped low overhead and upwrapped the chocolate. "Then I tranquillise her and we get her back to the Hub."

"In the SUV?" Ally asked from just behind Ianto. "The dimensions look... wrong?"

"It's been done before," Jack huffed. He held the chocolate out and clucked as Myfanwy landed in front of him, then advanced slowly until he could touch her. She snapped the chocolate off him and let him move in close to stroke his hand down her neck. "Hey there, girl. Did you miss me?"

"Jack?" Ianto called out quietly and Jack turned around to them.

"Come on, come and meet her," he urged. "She won't hurt you. Probably."

"Great, I've never been more reassured," Ianto grunted, but he came over to stand closer. "Hello... Myfanwy... Remind me why I signed up to this?"

"My irresistible charms," Jack grinned. "Come on, she's safe."

Ianto reached out and started back when she turned her beak to nudge at his hand, but he advanced again and rubbed the tip of her beak. He pulled a face when she made a happy noise and kept rubbing. "No point trying to explain to a dinosaur that I'm not the same person, is there?"

"Not really," Jack agreed. "Not a wise idea anyway, she trusts you like this."

"Great, I was just about to come and say hello, and then you say that," Ally huffed. "I don't want to be eaten by a dinosaur."

"Come here," Jack held out his free hand to her. "Come here, don't make me make it an order."

"I don't even want to think about the logic of that sentence," she grumbled, creeping towards him. "Jack, she's... she's really a pterodactyl?"

"No, she's a pteranodon," he grabbed her hand and tugged her in. "Go on, she's safe."

"Huh," Ally reached out and stroked gently down Myfanwy's neck, then repeated it more confidently. "It's not like stroking a snake... but it's not not like stroking a snake."

Jack rested his hands on her waist and moved her in closer. "You're not making any sense," he whispered in her ear. "keep her distracted?"

"What!?" Ally pushed back into him, but he held her firm. "Jack..."

"Just relax," he told her firmly. "Ianto, have you got the tranquilliser?"

"It's in my pocket, back pocket," he smirked as Jack slid it out carefully.

"Is that a tranquilliser, or are you just pleased to see me?" Jack whispered hot against his neck. "Next time, don't put it in your pocket, sure fire way to disaster. You fall over, it cracks and cuts you, you get tranquilliser delivered straight into the arse."

"Heard and understood," Ianto laughed when Myfanwy nudged at him again. "I think she wants more chocolate."

"Oh, usually," Jack agreed and slipped around to Ianto's side so that he could reach her neck. "Sorry, girl," he whispered and slipped the needle in. She gave him a baleful look and wobbled a little, then crumpled sideways onto the grass. "She'll just be glad to be home," he stroked down her side and smiled sadly, then shook himself and turned to the other two. "Ally, can you get the tarpaulin from the back of the SUV?"

"On it."

"Fortunately," Jack commented, "she's lighter than she looks, but I hope you're strong."

"You know I am," Ianto's hand wrapped around his wrist and he smirked. "Or do I have to prove it again?"

"Yeah, you do," Jack fought back a smirk at Ianto's leer. "You can prove it by helping me get Myfanwy into the SUV. Alexandra, thank you, let's get this spread out."

"It's Ally," she grumbled, taking two corners of the tarpaulin and dragging it around Myfanwy's slumped form. Jack just laughed and helped her to straighten it out. "Now what? Big bird..."

"Big bird onto tarpaulin first," he instructed. "Move her carefully, her bones are delicate."

It was easy enough to get her onto the sheet, and then it was a simple job of wrapping it tightly enough to stop her moving in the SUV, clamping it closed around her and, between Jack and Ianto, hauling her up into the back of the SUV. As predicted, it was a tight fit, but they got her settled safely. The task had the added advantage for Jack of getting both him and Ianto quite hot and bothered. He looked away quickly when Ally coughed, and he saw Ianto's smirk out of the corner of his eye as they piled back into the SUV. "Back to Cardiff," he said. "We'll let her loose in the Hub and feed her, then I'll do the report and we can get off to the viewing."

Ally sighed. "You two feed the bird, I'll write the report," she tucked her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. "Then you can get off in plenty of time."

"Hey, who's in charge here?" Jack asked.

"You are," she sighed.

"Thank you for the offer, but I want you to get to know her better. The way to a pteranodon's heart is through her stomach," he shifted leaned his arm against the window and looked ahead to where the sunset brightened the heavy clouds. "We'll make it in plenty of time, anyway."

She didn't respond, and Ianto gave him a confused look, to which he responded with a shrug. The rain was making driving, whilst not dangerous, certainly unpleasant, and he focussed his attention on the road, blocking out everything apart from the task. He was vaguely conscious of Ianto and Ally talking quietly, but nothing drew him out of his drift until he reached the beyond-familiar sight of Roald Dahl Plass, rain shining in the lamplight and the changing lights from the pillars. Ianto squeezed his leg and he turned to smile at him. "We can release her here, not many people around at this time of night and she'll find her way home safely."

"Okay," Ianto smiled at him and got out, shuddering in the rain driving in off the Bay. "I hate Wales," he grumbled at Jack as they opened the boot. "Going to join us, Ally?"

"Nope," she peered out of the car, then padded over to them in bare feet. "Cold cold cold!"

"Well you've got no shoes on," Jack pointed out. "It will be cold with no shoes on," he reached in and unclipped the tarpaulin from around Myfanwy, then tugged it free a bit. "Go on, girl," he encouraged, "you're home."

She croaked at him, then nudged Ianto aside and poked her beak out into the rain. With an ungraceful, lumbering lurch, she tumbled out of the back of the SUV and somehow got airborne. From a flopping thing, she turned immediately into a powerful, wonderful creature and soared over their heads, gaining height and momentum. "She looks like that isn't physically possible," Ianto commented from next to Jack. "It looks weird and..."

"Yeah, like she's decided that the laws of physics don't apply to her?"

"Yeah..." Ianto sighed and tugged on his sleeve. "Come on, Jack. Let's get her indoors out of this rain. And the car out of the way."

Jack nodded and got back behind the wheel, taking the SUV down into the car park below the Milennium Centre, back to the underground world of Torchwood.


	3. Comin' Back For More

**Author's note:** I am getting a new laptop! I am happy. Please give me ideas for what to name it? It's a sky-blue Dell netbook.

* * *

Ally dripped her way up to Jack and Ianto's office and knocked on the door. "Jack… morning both, by the way."

"Morning, Ally," Ianto span around in his chair to look at her and leaned back, propping his feet on Jack's leg for want of anywhere better. "Good night out last night?"

"Interesting," she hedged. "Lovely to see everyone again, but there's some weird stories flying around."

"Ally, this is Cardiff," Jack pointed out, amused. "There's always weird stories flying around."

"Yeah, but…" she came into the room and shook her sleeves slightly, then perched on the sofa next to the door. "People have been seeing things at the Capitol Centre. People in old clothes who are there one minute and gone the next, the sound of music that shouldn't be there – apparitions and ghosts."

Ianto snorted. "You can tell that you spend your free time writing. What does it sound like to you, Jack?"

He was leaning forwards, fingers over his lips, with a troubled look in his eyes. "It sounds like trouble for starters. Shift your feet, Ianto."

Ianto put them on the floor and let Jack up to pace. "Board room, Jack?"

"Yeah, give me five minutes," he agreed. "I'll get the files and bring them up. Can you do us a pot of coffee, Ianto?"

"Got it," he stood up and squeezed past Jack out of the room, brushing his hand over the small of his back as he slid past.

Ally stood up too and followed Jack out of the door when he followed Ianto. "What do you want me to do, Jack?"

He pointed to the computer and jogged down the steps towards the archives. "Can you do a search on 'apparitions' on the archive system and send all the results to the Boardroom computer? Lizzy, with me."

"What?" Lizzy looked up from her desk, startled. "Coming."

He chuckled at her and picked up a folder as he passed the desk by the entrance to the archives. "There's some photos and things I need down here."

"Have we got case references?" she asked behind him. "Or are we just meandering until Ianto realises we're missing and comes to rescue us?"

"Oh ye of little faith," he smiled and swallowed down the lump in his throat. "I know where I'm going. It's all by date, and I remember when the files I'm looking for came from."

"Okay," she looked around. "You file chronologically?"

"For storage, yeah," he agreed. "It used to be by races and things, but there were problems with things like knowing what the race was and different eras categorising things differently. We had a whole overhaul a couple of years ago, recategorised it all by case date and got it all onto the computer systems to make it easier to find."

"So we search on the computers by the key words, and then come down here and find the files by dates?"

"Yeah," he found the right cabinet and pulled open the March drawer, then flicked through to find the case file on the Astoria. "Can you find the file from May 20th last year? Referenced Brockless."

Lizzy pulled the top drawer of the cabinet open and pushed it shut again. "Are these cases of apparitions?"

"Yeah, they are. The two options we have really, although there's two examples of one of them. I need the file from…" he leaned on the cabinet and sighed heavily. "October. It was only October."

"October is somehow relevant?"

"Five months after I met Ianto," he sighed and pushed the drawer shut with his elbow, then goes a bit further back up the corridor to find October's cabinets. "I only really knew him for just over two years."

"This is the other Ianto, then? The one who died at Thames House."

"Yeah," he found the file and pushed the drawer shut with more force than necessary. "It seemed to last longer than we had. Still not long enough."

Lizzy, wisely, stayed silent and just followed him back up to the main Hub with the files in her arms, and thence up to the Boardroom where John has his feet up on the table and his wrist-strap in his hands resting on his thighs. He gives her a casual salute and tugs the chair next to him out. "Good morning, Elizabeth. How are you this fine day?"

She smiled and put the files down on the table where Jack indicated, then settled next to John and smiled. "I am very well indeed thank you, sir. And how are you?"

"I am well, and all the better for seeing you, my dear," he looked up to the door as Ally appeared. "Morning doll."

"Hey all," she dropped into the seat across from Lizzy and dragged the remote keyboard across. "I sent those files across here, Jack."

"Good," he leaned back on the desk and turned the projector on and fixed his gaze on the screen. "Can you get them queued up, and did you find statistics?"

"Yeah, I've got them ready to go," she reached for the mouse and opened the files. "There's a lot of stuff, Jack."

"I know," he leaned forwards to bring one of the files to the front, then settled back and waved to let Ally carry on. "The Rift does this to us."

Ianto arrived and put his tray down in the middle of the table before he pulled out the seat next to Ally. "No Doctor today?"

"He's doing something to the TARDIS," John said. "I couldn't find him. He'll turn up sooner or later."

"We could do with his help on this one," Jack sighed and sat down opposite Ianto. "Okay, so Ally's heard reports of apparitions at the Capitol Centre. Happens often enough to be a problem in Cardiff, so we'd best have a look at it at least. The Capitol Centre was opened in nineteen ninety, built on the site of the Capitol Theatre and Cinema which closed in nineteen seventy eight, demolished in nineteen eighty three."

"A momentous year," Ianto smiled wryly.

"Momentous indeed," Jack agreed with an answering smile. "Anyway, the theatre was built in nineteen twenty one. So we have a lot of time to get through. Ally, were there any distinguishing features?"

"Um… twentieth century clothing, but outdated. Rock music. Stuff like that, it's relatively recent."

"Could you date the music?" Ianto asked.

She looked dubious and shrugged. "I couldn't, I've not heard it. I could call my friend Laura, though… although I wouldn't expect her to recognise it."

"Call her, see if she does," Jack told her. "There's a chance. If not, we'll go down there and set some sensors up, including sound recording."

Ally nodded and pulled her phone out of her pocket, then flicked through her phone book. "Laura, Laura… which Laura? Oh, Laura Benton, not Smith… Answer the phone, girl… Hello darling! Yes, I'm fine, didn't drink that much last night. Not nearly as much as you, anyway, Yeah, I'm not surprised you're not feeling well today. Hang on, you know you were saying about the Capitol and that music you heard. Yeah, did you recognise it?" she drummed her fingers on the table and sighed. "No, I thought not. You thought it was quite old though? Eighties? Oh, okay. Was anyone with you? Okay, thanks, I'll call him. I, no I can't chat, I'm at work. Yes, dear, but no one cares where you work. Okay sweetheart, I'll talk to you soon. Adios mein cherie."

Jack leaned his elbows on the table and cupped his chin in his hands. "No luck?"

"She thinks it's old, and yes, she considers the nineteen eighties to be old," she sighed. "Hopeless case, she really is. I'm going to call Danny, her boyfriend. Oh, hey Danny. Yeah, just spoke to her, she's feeling vulnerable," she laughed. "Oh yeah, she deserves it. Hey, Danny, she said that you were with her when she heard weird music at the Capitol, do you know what it was? Oh… okay, thanks, that helps. Yeah, it's work. No, I can't tell you more, you know that. Bugger off, Danny. Grrr to you too, see ya," she hung up and put her phone down on the table. "He doesn't know either, but he says it was a familiar guitar solo."

Jack had one eyebrow raised and tipped his head. "They know you work for Torchwood?"

"Ish," she shrugged. "Although he probably thinks it's for a book or something. I did vague handwavy things and said that I'm working for the council."

"Fair enough," Jack sat back in his chair and gestured to the screen. "Okay, so. Time slips and echoes. Like I said, it happens fairly often in Cardiff, and it could be caused in two main ways. The preferable option is that it's a piece of alien tech which captured sounds and images from the past and is now projecting them – probably something to do with the ongoing development work setting it off, I'd guess. Tech is fairly easy, once you've found it; all you need to do is shut it down."

"Sounds really easy," Lizzy muttered. "Which means it usually goes wrong, I guess?"

He shrugged. "Sometimes. Most times it goes right though. The second option is that the Rift is creating echoes there – again, probably disturbed by the development work. And we really don't want it to be the Rift, because we have no way to monitor it and no way to control it."

"But if it's just creating those echoes, can't we just cover it up or something?" Ally asked quietly.

John waved his wrist strap to get attention. "If it's the Rift, then it's a sign of something bigger. I'm not picking up any readings from the Rift though, Jack."

"Good," he nodded, mostly to himself. "We're not ready to deal with anything like that until the Rift Manipulator is back online. Anyway," he shook himself and looked across at Ianto with a slightly fake smile. "These are the last few cases where we got echoes from the past," he pulled up the case file from last May and brought the photo of Tommy to the front. "This is Tommy Brockless. Born on the 7th of February 1894 in Manchester, died July 15th 1918 – shot for cowardice in France. In between, he spent ninety years in a Torchwood cryogenic chamber because we needed him to save the world."

"Geralt Carter and Harriet Derbyshire were sent to St Telio's Military Hospital in June 1918 to investigate reports of apparitions – people in strange clothes who shouldn't have been there. Ghosts, they called them. They witnessed two people – Tommy Brockless and a young woman – who told them that they had to take Tommy and keep him at Torchwood, because he needed to be there in the future to heal the past. The young woman with him was Toshiko Sato, a member of my last team. Every year, we had to defrost him to make sure he was still…"

"Functional?" John asked without looking up.

Jack smiled wryly. "Yeah, something like that. The last time we woke him up, there was building work happening at the former hospital, and builders reported seeing ghosts. The rift opened, and we sent Tommy back."

"To die…" Lizzy said quietly. "Did you know what would happen to him?"

"I did," Jack jutted his chin.

"Did he?"

"He knew he was going to die," Jack looked across at the screen. "We had a choice between sending him back, or letting the Rift rip open. No choice at all."

"What happens if the Rift rips open?" Ally asked. "Would Cardiff go splurf," she gestured caving inwards with her hands to go with the noise.

Jack reached over for the mouse and snagged it off her to manipulate the display more easily. He brought up the file from when the Rift was opened fully in January 2008. "In January the year before last, a being called Bilis Manger manipulated the team into opening the Rift – first to get me and Toshiko back from where we were stranded in 1941, and then because opening it enough to do that had unbalanced it, and people were falling through into present day Cardiff from all periods of history. The only way we could solve it, to save the world, was to open the Rift fully and reseal it," he shrugged. "Unfortunately, that released a being called Abaddon on Cardiff and nearly destroyed the world. We have no way of telling what would happen this time."

Ianto looked across at him. "So what do we do now?"

"First," Jack stood up, galvanised into action. "We need to go to the Capitol Centre and set up some detection equipment. Lizzy, I want you to get onto the centre authorities and get it set up for us – tell them we'll use a vacant shop if they've got any, or a storage area; anywhere out of the way will do. Ally, I want you to ring around your friends and acquaintances. Find out anyone who's seen or heard things and collect eyewitness reports, even better if you can get the name of the band. John, go and find the Doctor, see if he can tell us if there's any temporal fluctuations happening or if the Rift is active in that area. Ianto, with me."

Ianto smiled, then downed the last of his coffee and followed Jack's sweep out of the door. Lizzy rolled her eyes and stood up. "I was worried he wouldn't sweep out then, he seemed a bit caught up in the past at times."

"Lol."

"Every time you say that out loud," Lizzy sighed and patted Ally on the head as she passed, "you go down a little in my estimations."

Ally pulled her notebook out and clicked the end of a pen decisively. "I'll buy you a drink to make up for it?"

Lizzy just laughed as she left, and John unfolded his legs from the table slowly. "You'll never know she means it if you don't actually ask," he commented.

Ally snapped her gaze back to her notebook and reached for her phone. "I like Egypt – it has rainy seasons which are notable for being the only times of year when it rains."

John smirked and knocked twice on the table, then headed out of the conference room to the TARDIS. He poked his head tentatively into the main console room before he entered properly – he'd learned early on that where the Doctor went, explosions often followed. Either explosions or explanations, and he wasn't sure which was worse. The room was silent and still though, vaguely tidy for once as well, suggesting that Ianto had passed through this way more recently than the Doctor. Some things really didn't change. John headed deeper into the TARDIS, poking into rooms as he went, until he found the Doctor in one of the labs. Well, he'd found his legs and his jacket, so he assumed that the rest of him was attached. "Doctor, what are you looking at?"

An echoing, distorted response drifted out from under the cabinet, and then the Doctor squirmed out and wagged a wire at him. "Nearly got it, though. What can I do for you?"

He watched the waggling wire with interest and took them off the Doctor. "That looks burnt out. Short circuit?"

"Yeah," he looked back with a frown. "I may have been a bit enthusiastic with the rewiring in the other console room. Power's diverted to the right places now, but it's not getting to all the other right places."

"I see... well I don't, but... no, please don't explain," he handed the wire back and bent to drag the Doctor further out. "Jack thinks there may be a temporal anomaly occurring at the Capitol Centre and, of course, we've got no way of measuring it yet apart from our wrist straps. I don't know how fried Jack's got by the explosion," he sighed as the Doctor took it out of his hand as soon as he'd taken it off. "But mine's not picking anything up."

He took the strap and picked his jacket up, then beckoned and led the way back to the main console room. John followed him, smiling wryly, and settled into a seat to watch the Doctor swing screens around to better angles, tapping away at them and at keyboards as he searched. "Found anything?"

"Nothing yet," he whirled away around the console to look at a screen closer to John. "It's not stable, but there's no concentration of activity in that area. Is he sure it's Rift disturbance?"

"No, that's why we asked," John snagged his wrist strap back and refastened it. "He's going to take some of the team down there now and take some readings, hope that it's some sort of technology."

"Are you going with them?"

"I hope not," he focussed his attention on the buckle of his strap. "I... the refurbishment work going on there now is because of me."

"I know."

"Because I was a coward."

"Yes."

"because I was prepared to kill innocent people – to hurt someone I l... someone I care about..." he trailed off. "No wonder he got away from me."

The Doctor had his arms folded and was leaning against the console. When John looked up and tried to meet his gaze, he looked away and sniffed in a decisive manner. "The past is gone, Dastany," John froze and shrank back into the chair. "All you can change is the future."

He found his gaze caught and held by the Doctor's, and all he could do was nod. As soon as he did so, it was like some tension had been released and he could breathe again. "I should go see how they're getting on," he muttered, tugging his sleeve down self-consciously. "Offer... help, or something."

Out in the Hub, Jack had a pair of laptops and a box of sensors and detectors out on the tech-desk and was sorting through it to make sure that everything he needed was there. John went to sit on the edge of the desk to watch him. "He says it's not Rift related, there's not been a concentration of energy there."

"Good," Jack sighed and started packing things back in neatly. "I'm going to need your help on this one; the girls aren't proficient enough yet."

"On it, what do you want me to do first?"

"Can you put the computers into the bags down there," he pointed with a screwdriver. "Then we'll go down there. Ianto?" he called.

Ianto looked up from the other box at John's desk. "I'm right here, you don't have to shout."

"Sorry," Jack said, sounding completely unapologetic. "You're in charge whilst we're gone. We shouldn't be long."

"Okay," he clipped the tool kit shut and brought it over to Jack. "Do you need a hand getting things to the car?"

"Nope, we've got it," Jack smiled and slung one of the computer bags over his shoulder so he could pick the box up in both hands. "Lizzy, are you ready?"

"Right here," she emerged from his and Ianto's office and picked up the tool kit before John could. "Just got off the phone with the manager again, he'll be waiting for us at the entrance to the loading bay to let us in, and he's got the alarms cleared on what used to be Zavvi so we can set up there."

"Good going," Jack beamed.

"Even better," she waved the piece of paper. "I got his direct line, and he said to call any time I need to."

Jack laughed and led her into the lift, then put the box down on the floor as it rose. "Flirting on the job, Miss Mortimer? Shame on you."

Her eyes widened and her eyebrows arched. "Says you, Mr 'don't come into work early, you might get mentally scarred'. How did the flat viewing go?"

"It went well. We made an offer, which they've accepted. We're hoping to move in in about a week."

"Both of you?" John asked.

"Well, yeah," he shrugged. "Convenience more than anything else. How's your hunt going?"

"I think I've got something," John didn't look up. "Just finalising the details, really."

"Good," Jack bent to pick the box up again and watched the lift countdown. "We're nearly there."

"Dibs on shotgun!" Lizzy called, raising her hand in the air. "I called."

Jack sighed. "You did. Okay, but John gets to go in the front on the way back."

Lizzy spent the ten minute drive flicking through Ally's notes and complaining about her handwriting. The building was in sight when she leaned back and pushed her glasses back up her nose. "Is it wrong that I come to work and the 'I could use this in a story' thoughts start almost immediately?"

Jack laughed and shook his head. "You're not allowed to write it."

"Not even as Excalibur fanfiction?" she asked, wide-eyed and innocent.

"No, we have enough trouble with Excalibur anyway," he glanced across at her. "Imagine if people read your stories and started connecting them to real events, and then relialised that a lot of your stories could be connected to real events?"

"Fair point," she sighed. "But the bunnies keep eating me!"

"I'll protect you," John offered with a leer. "I'll tire you out so that they don't stop you sleeping."

Lizzy huffed and Jack laughed as he turned into the loading bay of the Capitol Centre. They piled out and Lizzy advanced on the manager with a warm smile. "Hi Anthony, thanks for meeting us."

"Not at all," he leaned in to kiss her cheek and held her hand for slightly longer than necessary. "You're Torchwood, I take it?"

"We are," Jack agreed. "We've met in the past."

"Oh, of course," Anthony frowned slightly, then his face cleared in realisation. "Oh, Captain Harkness, of course. I do apologise, we didn't have many dealings ourselves."

"No, I had Ianto for that," he tried to joke. "Nice to meet you properly."

"Yes, I was terribly sorry to hear about Ianto," Anthony offered. "he was a decent guy."

Jack hesitated and Lizzy jumped in. "Ah, rumours of Ianto's death were exaggerated," she said quickly, darting glances at Jack. "He was seriously ill – he and Jack have just returned from his convalescence."

"Oh... well, good," he stammered. "I'm very pleased to hear it. I'll have to look him up... has he changed his number?"

"Erm, yes," Jack looked over at Lizzy and shrugged. "If you call Lizzy, she'll get it for you. Speed dial, I don't remember it off the top of my head, you know how it is."

"Of course," he laughed. "We're all totally reliant on machines these days, aren't we? He's alright then?"

"Yeah, he's... his memory's not great," Jack added quickly. "It's messed up the last couple of years – no ongoing memory loss, but some things that happened in the last couple of years are hazy. I'll tell him you were asking after him, though."

"Okay, well... if he's up for a drink. Both of you, in fact? Or all of you?" he looked over at Lizzy.

"Thanks, we'd like that," Jack put his hand in the small of Lizzy's back and steered her forwards slightly. "Can we get set up, then? We need to get to the bottom of this and sort it out for you."

"Oh, yes," Anthony turned and let the way into the building, letting them in with a swipe card, and John squeezed Jack's elbow as soon as his back was turned. "It's mostly been happening on that floor too, so the Zavvi premises should be perfect for you..."

"Have you seen the ghosts yourself, Anthony?" Jack asked. "Or heard them?"

He nodded and led them through the back room into the bare, shuttered shop. "Yeah, I've heard them quite a lot. Hard to say what I've seen, with the huge number of people we get in here, but I have seen people and heard music before we've opened in the morning and after we've shut at night. I stood up on the top floor and looked down the stairs and it was like a ghostly crowd. Like in Lord of the Rings, the ghostly army that are barely visible in the sunlight. It was eerie."

"A big crowd?" Jack asked. "Like a concert audience?"

"I'd say that was what it was, actually," he mused. "Good music though."

"What was it?"

"Lynyrd Skynyrd," he smiled. "Extra long version of Freebird."

Jack clapped him on the back. "You are just what we were looking for, thanks Anthony."

"Don't mention it," he looked slightly taken aback. "I'd better get back to work. There'll be someone around, just holler if you need me."

"Thanks," Jack grinned and jumped up to sit on the counter. "I never thought it'd be that simple."

"I never thought that Ally had such hopeless cases for friends," Lizzy had her phone out and appeared to be texting. "She must be cute."

"Who?"

"The friend who thought that Freebird is ancient and boring, it's the only reason Ally would keep her around."

John made an 'oh' face and turned away. "So what do you think it is, Jack?"

"May 11th, 1974. Lynyrd Skynyrd played here on their Nuthin Fancy tour, and they authorised the bootleg of this concert. Someone came here and planted a recording device which is either now broadcasting when it shouldn't, or is broadcasting so that they can pick it up and they're here now."

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"What would you do?"

"Scan for the broadcast, locate it and retrieve it. Chances are it's damaged," she shrugged. "Am I right?"

"Exactly right," Jack grinned. "So..."

"Scanner?" He nodded and she picked one of the handheld ones out of her bag. "I'm getting a reading on this floor. But anything that was put here when the theatre was here can't be on this floor now..."

"So it's being broadcasted through time," John realised. "Anything we can do about that?"

Jack shook his head and reached into the box. "We can put up signal trappers in here, so the broadcasts will be drawn into here instead of out there in the public. Maybe even set it up to record..."

Lizzy grinned and came to look over into the box. "Okay, show me how."

* * *

They made it back to the Hub by lunchtime, having set the machines up and left them running. Anthony had been told to pipe music through the centre; start the Christmas music early, Jack had joked, then realised that the shoppers of Cardiff would hate him for it. He chuckled as he came out of the lift and crossed to Ianto, resting a hand in the small of his back. "Hey, miss me?"

"Who are you?" Ianto teased back at him. "All quiet here, we've just been trawling the internet for eyewitness accounts. Did you get it sorted?"

"Yeah, illegal bootlegging of a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. I remember that gig," he grinned and kissed the back of Ianto's neck quickly, then moved away again. "We should go to a gig sometime."

"Next time Lynyrd Skynyrd are in town, you can treat me," he chuckled and kept working. "Alien tech projecting an American band playing a concert at a demolished theatre into the present day. And that's a normal day at Torchwood."

"Yeah," Jack agreed from the doorway of the TARDIS. "But with a better soundtrack."

* * *

**Author's note the second:** Title taken from a Lynyrd Skynyrd song. They didn't actually perform it at this concert, sadly.


	4. Turf Wars

One of Jack's hands wrapped around her hip, whilst the other cupped her shoulder. She tipped her head back slightly and sighed out and he whispered something into her ear, then she smiled, flexed her shoulders and...

Lizzy clamped her hands over her ears and closed her eyes tightly whilst the shots rang out and echoed down the huge hall. Her hands didn't make much of a difference, and her ears were still ringing painfully when she felt hands wrap around her wrists and opened her eyes to meet Jack's worried gaze. "Ow," she said at last, plaintively, and he relaxed slightly. "That's loud."

"Yeah," he smiled and tugged her hands away from her ears. "The echoes in here magnify it, it's not so bad when we're out in the open."

Ally had set the gun down on the table and was hovering behind Jack. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she smiled and relaxed further, staring at the way Jack's thumbs rubbed the skin on the inside of her wrist. "Just didn't expect it to be so loud."

"We didn't see you arrive," Jack told her, a hint of apology in his tone which she shrugged off. "You down here for a reason, or just have masochistic tendencies?"

She nearly looked up at him at that one, but the motion of his thumbs was slightly hypnotic and made her skin do interesting things that, try as she might, she couldn't describe adequately. "I just had a call from Gwen," Jack's thumb found the vein and started following it up and down her wrist. "And she had a call from the hospital. They've had a few people brought in with strange symptoms and a weird toxin in their blood. She's investigated herself and got us a contact name, and she thinks that it's caused by a new drug that the police have had problems with."

Jack, arsehole, had discovered that changing the speed of his thumb changed the speed she spoke at, and she finally dragged her gaze away from her wrists to glare slightly at his smirk. He releases her wrists at last and steps back to give her some space and so that he can turn away. "We need to take a trip to the hospital, then?"

Lizzy pulled the car keys out of her back pocket and waved them. "Yep, Gwen's going to meet us there. She's got the files ready for us."

"After you," he bowed slightly and looked over his shoulder to where Ally had drifted away to put the gun she was using back in its case. "Going to join us?"

She looked up and clipped the case shut. "If you want me."

"Always good to get out on things like this," he pointed out. "Minimum danger, maximum exposure - I want people to get used to you two being part of Torchwood."

"Okay then."

He stood back to let them both out, then locked up behind them whilst Ally slipped her arm through Lizzy's and they set off up the corridor. His footsteps filled in the spaces between theirs – the thud of Ally's heavy boots and the quieter slaps of Lizzy's trainers were almost in synch all the way down the corridor and up into the Hub, where the metal gratings added a sharp resonance to the sound. Ianto had Jack's coat ready, draped over the back of a chair within easy reach, and he stood up and held it out for Jack to slip into it so that it settles more easily onto his shoulders. Ally and Lizzy shared a glance and bitten back smiles whilst Jack's head was down to attach his holster. Ianto spotted their look and raised his eyebrow. "You're just jealous," he mouthed across at them.

Ally nodded and shrugged, then smiled serenely when Jack raised his head again. "Ready?"

"Yeah," he raised his hand. "Keys please, Lizzy."

She sighed and pulled them out of her pocket again, then tossed them underarm. He had to lunge to the side to catch them and she blushed. "Sorry."

"We need to work on that," he laughed. "We'll have you catching and throwing like an England cricketer before long."

Ally snorted. "Jack," she said as she jogged up the stairs to the exit, "that was throwing like an England cricketer."

The hospital was about fifteen minutes away, and Lizzy leaned forwards between the front seats to tell Jack as much as she knew. "Five victims, all displaying symptoms of dehydration and exhaustion, cold sweats, faded vision, convulsions and sporadic memory loss. The doctors have never seen the same sort of combination of symptoms before, and they've found this unidentified toxin. It doesn't resemble anything on police records."

"Did you run it through the archive?" Jack asked over his shoulder.

She nodded. "No clear match, but it's comprised of two recognisable chemicals from the Yurhj system, plus three not in our databases."

"It's contemporary then," he mused. "It could have fallen through the rift and someone's taken advantage of it, but my guess is that it's been imported. Ally, check the database for any ships that have come from there in the last six months," he ordered. "Even just a single man ship, but particularly supply ships."

She pulled out the computer and got into the archives. Lizzy looked over her shoulder, offering advice at times, and they finally got to the results they wanted. "Three ships came from that region, Jack. One was a luxury liner bringing tourists – stringent checks at the other end, so that one's unlikely. That landed on Salisbury Plain and they visited London and Paris. One supply ship that came in in Nevada – not so rigorous and easy to slip stuff in, but Nevada..."

"Run through the system to see if any aliens have been registered as moving between Nevada and Cardiff," he instructed. "Of course if it's been shipped by a human we have no way of tracking it, but I would expect the authorities to catch it between there and here anyway. What was the other one?"

"A Grint ship," she frowned slightly. "Landed in the Brecon Beacons after requesting permission to stop for some essential repairs. That was five months ago – Gwen took a team out there to offer assistance and found the ship deserted."

"We've found our source, then," he sighed. "I hate the Grint. Did they track everyone down?"

"They tracked down five, including the leader, and he said they'd got everyone," she wes frowning slightly, one hand tangled in her long hair and the other tapping at the keyboard. "Two cases of weapons seized and they were sent on their way."

His knuckles turned white on the steering wheel and his eyes, when they met hers in the mirror, were hard. "I should have been here," he mutters. "I should know this stuff."

"One," Lizzy started. "Even if you had been here you wouldn't have known. They requested permission to land to perform repairs, did it all under cover and it was only chance that they were caught at all. Two, it wasn't your fault you got back so late. You had to go, and you had to come back. Three, the former head of the Grint in Cardiff was murdered just after they landed. They left someone behind."

"Have their operations changed?" he asked. "If someone new's taken over..."

"Yeah," she bit her lip. "A lot of Torchwood's targets have been caught suddenly – Gwen suggests that they were set up. Sounds like the Cardiff branch was trying to break away, and head office wasn't pleased about it."

Jack nodded to himself. "It's nice to be right occasionally."

"You saw it coming?"

"Yeah, there was a gradual shift in their M.O.," he agreed, pulling into a parking space. "They were pushing more terrestrial drugs and stuff from other systems and using terrestrial weapons – off the books from home."

"How long have they been operating in Cardiff?" Lizzy asked. "The records seem to go back a long way."

"I met my first blowfish in Cardiff back in eighteen ninety nine," Jack told her. He opened the door and got out and they followed. "But I don't know if he was part of the Grint. He was just a kid, really, and that was when Torchwood had a policy of shoot first, don't bother asking questions. They didn't want to know. I'd say that the first time we noticed the drugs being a problem was in the late nineteen twenties, but they operated mostly out of London back then. And they got a proper grip during the sixties."

"No wonder they're so hard to track down," Ally folded her arms across her chest and followed him through the automatic doors into the hospital reception. "They're fairly dug in."

"Very dug in," he agreed. "And it's made harder by the fact that there are a few families of blowfish living peacefully in Cardiff and catering to the alien community. Great entrepreneurs, some of them legally."

"I thought aliens weren't allowed to stay if there's a way to get them home?" Lizzy glanced up from her phone. "Gwen's in the waiting room on the second floor, there's been another victim brought in."

Jack led them over to the lift and leaned back against the mirrored wall. Two young men – brothers – joined them in the lift and he gave them a small nod. Lizzy smiled her understanding and slipped her phone back into her pocket. The men got out on the first floor and Jack pressed a button on his wrist strap that shut the doors before anyone else could get on. Lizzy rolled her eyes. "You could just use the button, you know?"

"Doesn't do anything," Ally said to her own nails. "It's just to give people a feeling of control and make them feel less claustrophobid."

Jack smirked and they arrived at their floor. He looked around as they got out, and his gaze settled on the sigh hanging from the ceiling. "Which room are we looking for, Elizabeth?"

"C15," she nodded down the corridor to the right. "So, resident aliens."

"Resident alien informers," he said. "Two rival gangs in the city – one acts as protection for them whilst they inform on the other. Besides, they cater for the ones who can't get home, and they're not harming anyone," he pushed open the door of the waiting room and flashed a grin at Gwen and the doctor she was talking to, crossing the room with his hand extended. "Hi, Captain Jack Harkness."

"Good to meet you, Captain," the doctor shook his hand and smiled back. "Your reputation precedes you. Tom Garrod."

"Another doctor who's a Tom," he released his hand and gestured to the girls behind him. "Alexandra Watson and Elizabeth Mortimer."

He nodded a greeting at them. "Torchwood's younger and more attractive than I'd heard."

Lizzy laughed slightly, and Ally rolled her eyes. "Flirting on the job, doctor?" she chastised smoothly. "What can you tell us?"

Jack's eyebrows shot up and Gwen bit off a chuckle, whilst Lizzy pulled a face at Tom. He saw it and smiled back from under dark lashes as he looked down at his notes. "Six victims now, the first four have all made a good recovery and will, we hope, make a full recovery in time. The first two are already home and on light food and plenty of liquid, the third is due to go home tomorrow and we want to keep the fourth in another night. We're prepared for any more who come in, but we'd like to stop it now, if possible."

"Of course, although six in a week still isn't as many as you'd get in drunk on one night," Jack pointed out.

Tom nodded his agreement slowly. "We'd rather not have any of those either," he pointed out. "But at least we can stop the flow of, I assume, alien drugs where we can't stop Colombian drugs or alcohol."

"I agree," Jack told him. "Don't worry, I want them off my patch."

Gwen laughed. "That sounds more like you, Jack. Have you got any more information than I could get?"

"It looks like it's the Grint," he told her seriously. "Sounds like they've had a coup and are going back to their old methods."

"I thought that," she said. "Hoped I was wrong, though."

"Yeah, we all did," he agreed. "Can I meet one of the patients?"

"Of course," Tom flicked through his files to a set of patient notes. "Mark's the one due to go home tomorrow, he's in the best condition to talk to you."

"Thanks," Jack put his hands in his pockets and nodded. "Lead the way, doctor."

The patients were all being kept on the same ward – officially called ward C7, it was colloquially known as the Torchwood ward, and was where anyone who had been hospitalised in Torchwood related incidents was treated. There were three private rooms which were used for patients who needed to be kept in isolation or for injured staff members; Jack had spent too many nights in the far one waiting for his people to wake up, and too many nights wandering between two or even three of them. Gwen raised her eyebrow at Jack and went to sit on the end of one of the beds. It was empty, but only because the boy who was supposed to be in it was sitting cross legged on the end of the bed opposite where he'd been talking to a pale faced girl. Their conversation, quiet as it had been, had stopped as soon as they had entered. The girl pulled a face and leant forwards to stage-whisper, "I think it's the Spanish Inquisition."

Jack laughed and pulled a chair up next to her bed, whilst Lizzy sat down on the vacant bed next to them and Ally sat next to Gwen. Tom tutted and picked up the boy's wrist to check his pulse. "You shouldn't be out of bed, Mark."

"Better her than me, Doc," he pointed out. "Besides, has it had any effect?"

"You're heart's going a little too fast," Tom commented, "although I suspect that that's the company rather than the exertion."

The girl flushed and Mark sighed. "You just had to say it, didn't you?" he turned and looked at the girl. "You, me, nightclub, lack of drugs that do really funny things to our heads?" he asked.

She smiled shyly and blushed even redder. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Jack smirked. "You know, I've heard of safer ways to get a date than trying strange drugs that land you in hospital. Can you tell me anything about what you took?"

Mark shrugged stiffly. "Orange tablets, one of my friends brought them to a party."

"Can you tell us his name?" Gwen asked.

He gave her a look that was laced with sarcasm and nearly laughed. "What do you think?"

"Can you get them off him?" Tom asked. "Or at least tell him to stop passing them around."

He shrugged again. "I'll see what I can do," he looked across at Jack and frowned. "Do I take it that they're alien?"

"You know, once upon a time we were a secret organisation," Jack sighs, just a hint of a laugh colouring it. "So I repeat, what can you tell me?"

The girl spoke up quietly. "They're cheap – cheaper than anything else you can get. You can get them anywhere really, as long as you know who to ask."

"And who would we have to ask?" Jack leaned forwards.

Mark laughed. "The sort of people who'd land us in here with more serious problems than an overdose if we told you," he shook his head.

"Can you tell us where you were, at least?"

The girl looked down at her fingers and Mark's face darkened. "I was at a mate's house. And I'm not going to get him in trouble either."

Jack's eyes turned hard, but he nodded anyway. "Thanks for your help," he said, pushing himself up out of the chair. "Be more careful next time."

Ally followed him out and left Lizzy and Gwen sitting quietly and Tom standing by the end of the bed. Mark eventually sighed and looked up at them. "No comment?"

Gwen rolled her eyes and smiled. "I remember when I was your age, I wanted all that, the highs and the madness. Wasn't so dangerous back then, though. Not so much alien stuff. Cardiff's a dangerous place to be young and adventurous."

They were silent, and Gwen eventually stood up with a sigh and left them to it. Lizzy studied her fingers and snorted as soon as she'd left the room. The girl flicked her gaze in Lizzy's direction and sighed. "Thanks Lily."

"Don't thank me yet," she warned. "I am going to tell them I know you. What did your mum say when she found out?"

"She might have kicked me out," she admitted. "It won't last though."

"Need a place to crash when you get out?" she offered.

"Yes please."

"Okay," she stood up. "And in return, you can take me to where and who you got them from."

Tom looked up at her. "They'll know you're Torchwood by now, you can't go."

"Are you offering?"

"Yeah," he said, meeting her eye. "Even if they know I'm a doctor, I'm just finding the best way to treat my patients."

She nodded and backed towards the door. "I'll see what Jack says. Get my number off Gwen."

Jack looked up as she got out onto the corridor again and hit the button to call the lift. "You got anything from them?"

"Claudia's agreed to take someone and introduce them to her supplier," she said shortly. "We've traded favours. Tom's volunteered to do the meet."

"And why has he done that?" Jack asked sharply.

She shrugged and the door slid open. "Because none of us can, and he has a decent cover if he gets caught."

"I'll consider it," he conceded. "They want to keep her in another two nights, don't they?"

"They do."

"We should move before that," Ally put in. "Before it claims a life."

Jack nodded. "Ally's right, we can't wait around for her to recover," he paused and then asked, "So how did you know her name?"

"We were at Brownies together," she muttered at her fingers. "Lived just around the corner from me and her mum used to give me lifts." Louder, she said, "And she's going to crash at my flat when she gets out of hospital – her mum's kicked her out for the time being."

Jack met her eye in the reflection. "Next time, tell us."

"I will," she agreed, "as long as I don't think that not telling you would help more."

He held out the keys. "Lizzy, go back to the Hub with Ally and do the report on this trip. Ally, I want you to compile a report on Grint activities recently, see if you can find the area of their base of operations, and then, if I'm not back, both of you get Ianto to take you down to the gun range and do some more training."

"Where are you going?" Gwen asked him, stepping out of the lift.

He caught hold of her and kissed her cheek. "I'm going to talk to a fish about a spaceship. Take care."

"I will," she sighed. "Back to my office. I'll call you if I get any information, Lizzy."

Lizzy nodded and shivered as they emerged into the cold. "I look forwards to it. What do you want John to do, Jack?"

"I need him to get the predictor back online," he said. "We could have done with the doctor staying a bit longer, but it can't be helped."

"I thought he'd stick around for long enough to say goodbye, at least," Ally sighed.

Jack shook his head. "He doesn't do goodbyes; only told John, Ianto and I because he needed us to move out," he straightened his shoulder and looked down the road. "I'll see you back at the Hub, can you ask Ianto to wait for me there if I'm not back by the time you go home?"

"Will do," Ally agreed.

Jack pushed the back door open and headed into the bar area. He could feel the thump of the heavy base in the cellar through his feet, but this floor was quiet and empty. The blowfish behind the bar heaved a sigh as he appeared and reached under the counter. "At least you're sober this time, Captain. The usual?"

"Only if the usual involves information, Rax, although I wouldn't mind a cola," he smirked as he slipped onto one of the bar stools. "How much did I drink last time I was in here?"

"Too much," he muttered wetly. "You must be feeling better if you're drinking this stuff," he slid a greasy glass onto the bar and nodded. "On the house, considering how much I got out of you last time."

"Did I die on you?"

"Only three times."

"Sorry," he sighed.

"Don't mention it," Rax leaned forwards on the bar. "You were pretty cut up. No, that's an understatement. I've never seen you that upset about someone."

"He was pretty special," Jack smiles sadly into his glass.

"Well, you've clearly met someone else," he commented, reaching out to tip Jack's chin up with a webbed hand. "Someone who's put the smile back in your eyes."

"Long story," he said quietly, letting himself smile. "You got the time for it?"

"I've got the time," Rax agreed and came out from behind the bar so that they could sit down at one of the tables. "You know me, I always have time for a gossip."

"That you do," he agreed, studying his friend. "I remember when you were this high and asking me for stories."

"That's a long time ago, Captain," Rax pointed out. "Soon you'll be telling those stories to my grandchildren. Though I'll never grow tired of hearing them."

Jack dropped his head again and looked at the tabletop. "I have new stories now. Did I ever tell you of how I met Ianto?"

"Not coherently."

He snorted and shook his head. "Back to the beginning then. He was Torchwood London, one of the very, very few survivors. He came to me for a job and I turned him away. I wanted him as soon as I saw him, but – contrary to popular belief – I don't always think with my dick," he smiled at the memories. "He came to me three times – once in the park, once at the bay and once he was standing there in the middle of the road. He asked my help with catching a pteranodon."

"Your Myfanwy? I've heard stories..."

"Yeah, we got her back last week," he grins. "She always was a sucker for a good dark chocolate, and she knows where home is."

"She's not the only one," Rax muttered.

Jack ignored him. "I'd thought we didn't need him, but anyone who could discover that a pteranodon loves dark chocolate... well, he demonstrated that outside the box thinking and curiosity that made him such a great agent. And I promised myself that I wouldn't care for him, that I wouldn't let him care for me, because I was still waiting for the Doctor. And then he came, and the only place I really wanted to be was back with Ianto."

"And you came back, and we watched you learn to smile," Rax rested his head on his open palm. "I didn't think I'd see you again after I saw his name there on that list. It was a bad day for Earth."

"I don't remember coming here," Jack admitted. "I was so dark, so empty. I failed him, he died because of me, and there was no one to catch me. Eventually, I ran. I wandered and got even more lost, even as I set out to find myself again. And then the Doctor found me, and a miracle happened."

"A man who can travel in time can achieve much."

"A man with a spaceship which can bridge dimensions can, if the dimensions collide in just the right way, meet a different version of himself, who is travelling with a different man to his own companion. A man who is just as immortal as his own companion," Jack looked up at him again. "And if the other companion should be the man who his own companion loved and lost not so long ago, and the only thing that his hyper intelligent spaceship thinks can heal the broken companion... Of course, the fact that he'd never met me and pretty much hated me on sight really made my day."

"You won him over, though," Rax smiled sideways at him.

Jack flashed him a grin. "Of course I did, I'm Captain Jack Harkness. And, I thought, he's different, but not so different. Surely he's not so different that he'd be incapable of loving me, and that I'd be incapable of loving him."

"And do you?"

"I do," he said and his grin dropped. "I'm not so sure about him. A temporal prison happened, and I've known this Ianto for six years longer than he's known me. He's still glad to have me back, and still exploring what we have. I don't know what'll happen when we get out of the honeymoon period."

"If you love something, let it go..."

"Because if it doesn't come back, it was never yours in the first place," he finished. "I know. But letting him go will be unbearable."

"He'll come back," Rax reassured him. "Even if only because he has nowhere else to be," Jack nodded and sighed heavily. "So, Captain. What do you want in exchange for your story?"

Jack leaned back in his chair and drained his cola, watching Rax with a steady eye. Eventually he nodded and put his glass back down. "There's been a change of command in the Grint, and something new appeared on the club scene. It's put people in hospital – I need to stop it before someone dies."

"And what do you want from me?"

"Have you had pressure put on you?"

Rax shook his head. "They stay clear of here, it's not on their patch. Although I have heard that they are pushing to gain it back. The Roth will not let them get this far."

"How far does the change of command extend?"

"All the way, I would say," he shrugged. "I have heard that Latt, Hirty, Louth, Simi, all dead. Pushed out."

"I hadn't heard about Louth," Jack admits. "I knew of the others. If they got Louth..."

"It goes all the way to the top. You've been gone, Captain. You need to reestablish your control, especially over the Bay area. Both the Grint and the Roth are preparing to make a push on it ."

Jack tipped his chin up. "Do you think that the Roth could be dissuaded?"

"I'll mention that you're back in town and that you're having a crackdown on Grint activities. If you can contain them and restrict them, the Roth's energies may be turned elsewhere."

"Thanks," he said. "I'll show my face a bit, as well."

"Keep it to this end of town, Jack," Rax stood up and took Jack's glass back to the bar. "Both sides would see your presence at the other as a sign of opposition."

He stood up and wandered back to the bar so he could lean on it. "I understand. We'll have a cruise around that area when we can, show our faces here. I'm not going to let my city become a site of gang warfare, even if most of the residents don't know."

"Play it carefully, Jack," Rax smiled at him over his shoulder and nodded. "I'll see you around."

"You will," he agreed. "I'll try to bring my new team around to meet you."

"One at a time, Captain," Rax called after him. "No one likes a show-off."

Jack took a deep breath as he got outside and pulled his phone from his pocket. He dialed as he walked towards the station, where he could get a taxi, and waited for Ianto to pick up. "Ianto."

"_Hey, Jack. Sorry, we're down in the firing range. Had to get my ear defenders off first."_

"No worries," he assured him. "I'm on my way back to the Hub now, going to get a taxi from the station."

"_Okay. It's still fairly early, do you want me to order some dinner in to eat whilst we go over what we've got, or do you want to cover it and eat when we get home?"_

"When we get home will be fine," he decided. "Tomorrow's going to be a hard day, I want everyone to get home as soon as they can. I'll explain everything when I get back."

"_About half an hour?"_

"About that," he agreed. "Can you have..."

"_I'll put the kettle on," _Ianto laughed and Jack smiled at the sound. _"We'll see you in the boardroom."_

"Okay," he paused. "Love you."

Ianto sounded amused when he replied, _"Love you too,_" and hung up. Jack figured that amused was better than disturbed or hesitant.

He spent the cab ride in silence, thinking back over what they'd learned that day. Once in the Hub, he shrugged his coat off and hung it up in the office, then hurried through to the Boardroom where the team were waiting for him. John had his feet on the table, as usual, and gave him a slight wave as he entered. Ally and Lizzy stopped talking and leaned back in their seats, and Ianto simply pushed the last mug more towards his seat. He nodded his thanks and sat down. "We've got a turf war on our hands," Jack said shortly. "The Grint are trying to push into Roth territory, whilst they're both trying to push towards the Bay."

"The Grint are the blowfish, aren't they?" Ally asked and Jack nodded. "And the Roth are Crisinta."

"Yeah, humanoid enough that they have the advantage over the Grint in that department," he leaned forwards and wrapped his hands more securely around his mug. "The Roth dominate on surface interactions with the human population, the Grint combat it with force. And we try to keep the balance between them."

"Can't we just get rid of both?" Ianto rested his hand on his fist.

"Not easily," he explained, "they're too deeply entrenched, and the alien population relies on them. It's not just that they provide protection from each other, they provide work, import foods and medicines from outside the galaxy. Without them, our problems would be even bigger."

John frowned. "Haven't you considered undercutting them?"

"We tried, and nearly lost the whole team," Jack looks away. "I'm not going to risk that again. Have you got any leads on these drugs, Ally?"

"Yeah, I have," she said, reaching for the mouse. "I've put together a map of where the victims were found, and I've been looking at Twitter and Facebook to see if I can find any more reports and discussions. It seems to be centred on this end of town," Jack nodded, having suspected as much and she continued, "A lot of people have been recommending it, Jack. It's popular and cheap."

"Addictive?"

"Hard to say yet," she said. "But it sounds like they're starting to offer harder stuff as well."

"Old school," Ianto muttered. "Their methods are no different to human drug pushers."

"No different to any drug pushers," John snorted, glancing briefly at Jack. "It works, has worked for millennia. Why change it?"

Ianto nodded his understanding and looked to Jack. "What do we do?"

Jack stood up and leaned on the back on his chair so that he could study the map. Behind him, the team watched his actions and waited for a response. Eventually he turned back to them with a smile. "Lizzy, have you got that doctor's number?"

"I don't," she said, "but I can get it."

"Good," he smiled. "Tell him he's taking you out dancing tonight."

"Where should I tell him he's taking me?" she asked.

"Liquid and Life," he leaned on his chair again, facing towards the team, and looked down at Ianto. "Mr Jones, would you care to join me for a drink tonight?"

Ianto smirked. "Do I get to go shopping first?"

He nodded and sat down again. "Both of you can get off now and get ready. John, how's the Rift Predictor looking?"

"I think it's up and running. Only time will tell."

Jack flashed him a grateful smile. "Thank you, brilliant work," John inclined his head in acknowledgement. "Can you run control here whilst we're on the ground."

"Of course," he smiled tightly. "Do I get Ally as backup?"

"You do. Call us if you need us, the drug ring's not going anywhere," he said firmly. "You can go out, go home and grab something to eat if you like, or I'm going to be ordering something in for myself."

Ally stood up. "I'm going to head out," she told him, rolling her shoulders. "Gourmet Burger calls, I think. John?"

He nodded. "I think I'll join you. Sure you won't come out with us, Jack?"

Jack shook his head. "At least one of us needs to be in the Hub. You two enjoy yourselves, I'm going to get a pizza in."

He'd got a text from Ianto telling him to be at Liquid at seven and to wear something different, so here he was, in close fitting jeans, a pair of nearly new converses and a dark T shirt. He headed for the bar first and ordered his drink, then looked around the quiet room whilst he waited. There were very few people here this early, so he spotted Lizzy chatting to Tom on the far side of the dance floor and gave her a nod of greeting, but there was still no sign of Ianto. The bar tender got his attention, having got his drink, and Jack was just about to pay for it when a hand slipped in with a ten pound note and waved it. "Let me get that for you."

Jack turned his head and let his eyebrows rise appreciatively. He ran his eyes up and down Ianto's body and grinned a wolfish smile. "You know, I think I will."

Ianto smirked and leaned next to him, one hip pressing against the bar and one pressing against Jack's leg. "And a Bacardi and Coke for me please, mate."

The bartender shrugged and went to get the drink, leaving them nearly alone at the bar. Jack dropped his hand from the edge of the bar and squeezed Ianto's arse, turning his head to whisper in his ear. "When you dressed, did you consider the implications, Mr Jones?"

"What implications might those be?" he asked innocently, nodding his thanks as the bartender returned.

Jack let him pay before he used his grip to pull Ianto closer and around slightly, so that his crotch pressed against Jack's hip. "Well, there's the potential with your current attire that I won't be able to concentrate for long enough to do my job."

Ianto's smirk got more predatory. "Oh good," he whispered, breath hot against Jack's lips. Then he walked away and Jack stared after him, watching the sway of his hips and the way his jeans clung to him, the thin patch of skin revealed on each sway when his shirt rode up. He closed his eyes and exhaled steadily, then followed Ianto over to the corner table he'd settled at. "Decided to join me at last?" Ianto asked when he sat down.

Jack laughed and leaned over, closing his eyes when Ianto leaned in to meet him. Ianto's hand cupped his cheek and held him in place whilst Ianto kissed him fiercely, then released him. Jack caught his hand and tangled their fingers together. "You look so good tonight, I'm going to have my work cut out."

"Work cut out for what?" Ianto asked, slight confusion in his eyes.

Jack squeezed his hand. "Making sure you don't get a better offer."

Ianto shook his head firmly and squeezed back. "Unless a succubus wanders in here..."

"Not an incubus?" Jack teased.

"Nah, it'd have to be a succubus. Or Jessica Alba," he paused. "Or Michael Weatherley, or Cote Del Pablo. But apart from them..."

Jack snorted and pulled Ianto back in again. "I'll go tell the bounced that they're barred."

"You do that," Ianto said against his lips. "But not yet."

"Not yet," Jack agreed.

The bar started to fill up before long and the music, which neither of them particularly liked, got louder. Ianto once disappeared off through the crowd and returned looking thoughtful. "Better than nothing," he shrugged. "The DJ's agreed to play Living On A Prayer before it gets too busy."

"Everyone loves stuff like that," Jack said. "Why wouldn't they play it?"

Ianto shrugged and waved his hand to indicate the other people in the bar. "They're more like Ally's friend, the one who thinks that 70s music is ancient."

"Yeah," Jack sighed and picked his drink up. "Imagine what they'd think of me."

"They'd think that you're a dirty old man, and I'm your toyboy," Ianto grinned across at him. "We're neither of us that young, Jack."

"True," he agreed. "Although I've still got a hell of a start on you."

"Yeah, but we've got so long that it doesn't matter," Ianto told him firmly. "Not to us, anyway..."

It almost sounded like a question, so Jack reached out for his hand again. "Not for me, certainly. Can you put up with a double millenarian?"

"If he looks as good as you, I can put up with anyone," Ianto laughed, and Jack glowed.

A while later, once they were sitting quietly and enjoying each other's company as they couldn't even hear themselves think, Jack saw Lizzy and Tom dancing close together nearby and nudged Ianto. He looked up and caught sight of them, then gave Jack a grin and a wink. Jack pulled him to his feet and dragged him over to the dance floor, then slipped his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and pressed him close to stop him escaping. "Care to dance?" he asked at last.

Ianto rolled his eyes and crushed their lips together, then found Jack's pockets with his own hands. "We're going to be told to shove off," he protested, but ground against Jack with the beat.

Jack grinned. "Wouldn't be the first time, but we have to make it look like we're here for a reason."

Ianto gave into it and leant more into Jack as the track switched to a slower one. He rested his head on Jack's shoulder and, to all appearances, gazed blankly out at the room, but when he turned back to kiss Jack's neck, it was also so that he could tell him, "Lizzy and Tom are moving."

Jack nodded against him and turned them both so that a girl can go past with a tray full of drinks. Their table had been claimed already. He saw Lizzy and Tom talking to a guy he recognised and pulled Ianto back against him. "Up to his old tricks again," he mutters.

"What?"

"Familiar face," he explained. "I need to make a phone call."

"Okay," Ianto leaned back a little so that Jack could get away. "I'll be at the bar, want another drink?"

"Yes please," he tugged him in for a kiss and then slipped away through the crowd to the door, nodding at the bouncer as he left. It was raining outside, as usual, so he found a quiet doorway to stand in and called John. "Hey, I need you to check something for me."

"_I live to serve,"_ John sighed. _"What am I looking for?"_

"Andy Padstock, put him into the system and get his aliases, then see if he has any properties under any of those names," he instructed, "text me if you get any results. I need to go back in and keep an eye on him, may need to tail him if we don't get anything."

"_Okay,"_ Jack heard the rattle of keys in the background and started heading back to the club. _"Should have the information fairly quickly, even if this system hasn't been updated in a while."_

"Thanks, John," he said. "I'll keep you posted."

Back in the bar, he saw Ianto chatting to two tall blondes and felt a surge of jealousy, despite Ianto's disinterested slouch. He fought it down and carved his way through to crowd to wrap his arm around Ianto's waist. "Hey, babe," Ianto turned and smiled over his shoulder, leaning into Jack and lifting his head. "Success?"

"Yeah," he smiled. "He'll text me the results."

One of the girls, apparently thinking that she might still have a chance, leaned into Ianto's other side. "You sure you don't want some fun, sweetie?" she asked, biting her lip and gazing at him with wide eyes. "What's a hot guy like you doing with him?"

"Sweetheart," he didn't look at her. "First of all, he's bloody fantastic in the sack and I doubt btoh of you together could make it worth not going home with him. Secondly, this is my boyfriend, go find a guy who's interested."

She scowled and glared at Jack, then tossed her hair over her shoulder and stalked off with her friend to find someone else. Jack kissed the back of Ianto's ear and muttered, "She needs to re-dye her hair, her roots are showing."

"She's still hot though," Ianto admitted with a sigh. "If we weren't at work, I would have suggested taking her home with us. Well, maybe the other one."

Jack laughed and turned Ianto's face so that he could kiss him fiercely. "One day, maybe?"

"Kinky bastard."

"Your idea," he pointed out. His leg vibrated between them and he fished his phone out of his pocket. "He's got a result for us, Padstock owns quite a lot of property in Cardiff and there's a flat that's been standing empty for a while. John says there's been a lot of activity, though," he frowned as he scanned through the message, then sent a fast reply. "I'm going to get him to pick us up here and take us over there, we can raid tonight and hopefully stop the stuff making it onto the streets tomorrow night."

Ianto nodded and framed his face with his hands. "Want to give them a reason we might be leaving so suddenly?" he asked against Jack's lips.

He pressed in further and crushed their lips together, stroked Ianto's lips with the tip of his tongue until he parted them and let Jack in. Jack sighed and tangled one hand in Ianto's hair. "If we keep this up, I'm going to have to take you up on that."

Ianto laughed and covered Jack's hand with his own, then pulled it down and dragged him from the club. They were pressed together in the rain outside by the time John arrived, laughing and pratting about in the street. Whilst Ianto had texted Lizzy to let her know what was happening, the rain had doused their ardour somewhat, and Jack had burst into song. Ianto had been curling in on himself with laughter when Jack had swept up to him and crushed in a hug, getting him even wetter than he had been. John gave them a disapproving look and knocked on the window. "You two coming, or are you going to have sex in the street?"

Jack pushed Ianto into the back, then went round and got into the front next to John. "Weapons?""

Ianto passed Jack's gun over between the seats. "Got them, and holster," he passed that over as well.

He smiled back over his shoulder, checked the gun and slipped it into the holster. "I need to get myself another Webley," he sighed. "These just feel wrong."

"What happened to your old one?" John asked.

"It was blown up," he said shortly and shifted so that he could pull his comm. Earpiece out of his pocket. "Ally, you there?" he asked when he got it in place.

"I'm here," she confirmed. "Where's Lizzy?"

"Still at the bar," Jack said as he watched Ianto attach his comm. in the mirror. "She's not trained enough for this yet."

Ally sighed heavily down the comm. but didn't respond. There was a click from the back seat as Ianto finished checking his gun, then he asked quietly, "What's the plan, Jack?"

"Go in, shout, confiscate everything, leave," he stated. "Simple, easy to remember."

"And what happens if they resist?"

"We shoot things," John shrugged in the driver's seat. "Very simple."

Jack smirked and looked back at Ianto in the mirror. "I hope it won't come to that, though."

They pulled up on a quiet street near the university. Most of the houses had at least one room lit, but the house they'd called at had heavy curtains drawn over the windows. Ianto tapped at the computers behind them and chuckled. "It's using a lot of power for an empty property."

Jack grinned. "Maybe we should pay them a visit and make sure they've been paying their bills."

He pushed the car door open and shivered when the wind blew the rain in on him and soaked him again. "I do not want pneumonia again," he muttered. "Come on."

They clustered on the doorstep and Jack knocked firmly on the door. After a while, it opened a crack, and Ianto shoved his booted foot into the crack to force it wider. "Torchwood," Jack said, before the figure behind the door could ask. "We've got some questions."

Ianto gave a grunt as they tried to slam the door on his foot and kicked it to help the bounce. "That wasn't very nice," he told the Pheroxian as she backed up the corridor. "I'd run now, whilst you have the chance."

John caught her and shook his head. "Stick with us; we'll get you to safety," he told her.

Jack gave him a curt nod and rubbed his hand down her arm. "Where are they?"

"Upstairs," she said quietly. "They'll know you're here now."

Ianto prowled down the corridor and kicked the first door open, keeping his gun trained in front of him. "Jack..."

"I've got it," he confirmed, training his gun up the stairs. "John, keep her back."

Ianto got to the end of the corridor and checked in the last room, then came back down the corridor and shot the bolt on the cellar door as he passed. "We're clear down here."

"Good," Jack nodded up the stairs. "I'll go first, cover me."

He'd got to the top before the shooting started. He ducked instantly and brought his gun up to return fire, and Ianto darted up to join him from halfway up, where he could just see them. In his peripheral vision he saw Jack go down and he moved smoothly up the stairs, keeping his gun level. One of the two remaining blowfish on the landing – out of four, one was dead and one was incapacitated – fell to Ianto's shot before the other buried a bullet in his side and backed into the room at the end of the landing. Ianto clamped his hand over the wound and sank onto the step next to Jack, dropping his gun for long enough to arrange Jack more comfortably against his shoulder, then retrieved it. The girl had her face buried in John's shoulder, and he had his gun trained up the stairs. "Ianto?"

"Still alive," he breathed. "Wish I weren't."

"And Jack?"

"Dead," he sighed and leaned his cheek on the top of Jack's head. "Clean shot, shouldn't take long."

John sighed and made to put away his gun, so Ianto shook his head and tightened his grip on his own. "Don't do that, still at least one alive."

"You going to make it?" John asked, creeping up the stairs.

"Sadly, I think so," he grunted and forced his eyes to stay open. "Kid, what's your name?"

"Fi," she told him, gaze darting from him, to John, to the door behind them and up to the top of the stairs. "Are they..."

"Come up here," he said. We need to wait for Jack..." Jack took a huge gasp, thumping his head against Ianto's cheek and the wall behind them. "Ow..." Ianto said vaguely.

Jack slipped his arm behind Ianto and covered the hand over his wound with his other hand so that Ianto was encircled by his arms. He sighed and let his head drop onto Jack's shoulder as the increased pressure intensified the pain. He couldn't hear what Jack was saying, although he could feel his jaw and throat moving with speech. The blackness clawed at him and receded again, leaving him to the pain. "I'll live," he said at last, lifting his head from Jack's shoulder with difficulty. "Lucky sod."

"Sorry," Jack said gently, kissing his forehead. "I need to move."

Ianto nodded and increased the pressure he was applying himself. "Go on," he tipped his head back against the wall when Jack had extracted his arm, and even managed to smile. "I've done the hard work for you."

Jack kissed him again, tasting of blood and life, and pulled away to stand up fully. He picked his gun up off the floor and crept onto the landing. "John, cover me," he instructed.

The two men advanced along the landing, checking all the rooms, whilst Ianto kept his eye and gun trained on the door at the far end. John gave a low whistle and pulled one of the doors closed. "This will be a big job, and they'll be here soon."

"I know," Jack told him, kicking the far door open and dropping into a crouch instantly. A bullet smacked into the wall above Ianto's head and he took the shot, dropping the alien where he stood. "Excellent shot, Ianto," Jack advanced into the room with his gun up, then put it away. "Good work. "John, get the unconscious one into the back of the SUV. I'll..." he whirled around at the sound of a shot and screaming from Fi, and his face went deathly pale. "Ianto?"

John was leaning over the bannisters and turned back to him to squeeze his arm. "We need him functioning, Jack. And he couldn't ask either of us to do it."

Jack nodded wordlessly and swallowed. His voice, when he spoke, was dry. "John, get the blowfish and Fi into the SUV, then start shifting things. Ianto and I will help as soon as..." he swallowed again and came down the stairs to sit next to Ianto, wrapping his arm around his waist and holding him closer. "Ianto, idiot," he whispered at the ceiling.

John had only got the injured alien as far as the door when Ianto gasped and turned into Jack's embrace, clutching at his wet, bloodstained T shirt whilst his breath steadied. Jack kept his eyes closed and pulled him in, holding him closer and pressing a kiss against his temple. He settled quickly and pulled back to look around. "Sorry," he muttered when he saw the tight lines of Jack's face. "Couldn't think of an alternative."

He sighed and opened his eyes to look at Ianto. "You brilliant, wonderful idiot. Please don't do that too often?"

Ianto smiled and stood up, then offered Jack his hand. "Come on, work to do before they get here and kill us again."

They heard sirens blaring outside and Jack ran to the door. He leaned out and grinned up at Ianto. "Looks like someone called the police on us. You start shifting boxes, I'll deal with Cardiff's finest."

"Yes, sir," Ianto slipped his gun back into its holster and saluted. "Play nice."

Jack grinned and wandered out with his hands in his pockets. The first officer out of the car saw him and groaned, and he ouldn't help but laugh. "Gee, Office Krupke," he jogged down the steps and held out his hand. "Martin, good to see you again."

Martin Shaw squeezed Jack's hand and nodded to his companion in the car, who rached for the radio to tell them that it was Torchwood. "I'd heard you were back in town, Jack, and with Ianto in tow. Next time, try warning us?"

"Sorry, I'll do my best," he grinned. "And yeah, both of us back."

"Good," Martin relaxed slightly. "Cardiff might get back under control again. It's way outside our capabilities."

"Only because you're not allowed to shoot people," Jack said. "We're expecting trouble, can you cordon the street off for us and lend a couple of lads to shift boxes?"

"Of course, Jack," he clapped him on the shoulder and turned away. "Tell Ianto I'm glad to hear that the reports of his death have been exaggerated."

Jack smiled and jogged back into the house, catching Ianto at the bottom of the stairs. "Martin Shaw, wife called Annie, daughter called Lindsey, follows rugby and takes the piss out of cricket."

"Thanks," Ianto smiled. "Ready made social life, gotta love it."


	5. Old School

**Author's Note:** Wow, this has taken a while. I know I intended to do updates weekly, but I'm having to put this on hiatus for a short while (very short while, I hope) whilst I get three deadlined stories written. Hopefully that will bring us up until it's time for the Doctor to take over, but I haven't actually counted yet.

* * *

Jack leaned over Ianto, one hand resting on the back of his chair and the other flat on the desk next to the keyboard, supporting his weight. Code scrawled across the screen and Jack smirked as the section they were looking for flashed past again. He must have given a twitch, because Ianto turned his head slowly and glared at him. Jack smiled more gently and turned around to drag his own chair over. "Keep looking."

"What am I looking for?" Ianto asked, turning back to the screen and taking the mouse. "I keep missing it."

"You do," he agreed, resting his hand on Ianto's back and tapping his finger on the edge of the screen. "I'll point it out when it comes around again."

"Okay," he sighed and turned his full attention back to the screen. "Let me look one more time."

Jack nodded and flexed his fingers on Ianto's back. "You'll see it."

Ianto gave a grunt and froze the screen with a click, then leaned forwards to look closer. "There it is. A fault in the code, like..."

"That's what's been setting the alerts off," Jack agreed. "A tiny, tiny change in the code and it's picking up the wrong things. Where did it come from though?"

Ianto looked around at him, a light frown creasing his forehead at Jack's tone. "What's up?"

"The code can't corrupt itself..."

"Unlike Windows," Ianto muttered, apparently unable to help himself.

Jack just nodded and ignored him. "Something has got in, something that's corrupting the code."

"Computer virus?"

"Yep," he stretched his arms above his head and flexed his shoulders back. "The firewalls haven't been maintained well enough, and something's got in. So what do we do?"

"Run a virus scan?" Ianto span his chair around as much as the close proximity of Jack's chair would allow. "Is there a virus scan strong enough?"

Jack snorted. "Well AVG won't do it."

"Not even the full version?"

Jack patted his leg as he stood up. "Can you do a round of coffee? I'll gather everyone together in the boardroom."

"Going to explain," he called over his shoulder as Jack left, "or should I guess?" There was no answer, so he shut the screen down and went to make the coffee. "Bloody boyfriends who wander off in the middle of a sentence. He'll never finish it either."

Lizzy giggled behind him and he met her eyes in the reflection in the coffee machine. "He never changes," she sympathised. "Although it has been pointed out that you're..."

"Not much better, I know," he shrugged and turned back to making the coffee. "How would you like your coffee?"

"Tea, please."

He sighed. "Philistine."

"English, my darling Welshman, English," she teased. "Want a hand there?"

"Yeah, can you get the sandwiches from the fridge?" he gestured with a teaspoon. "We may as well have them now, whilst we know we can."

"Boardroom, now!" Jack called from the main Hub.

"Piss off, Jack," Ianto muttered.

When they got to the boardroom, Jack was leaning against the desk next to John with his hands in his pockets. He glanced up and smiled at their entrance, then returned to his conversation. Ianto's hands tightened barely noticeably on the tray, then relaxed enough for him to set it down before he sat down in Jack's chair. Jack raised an eyebrow and pushed away from the desk. "Okay boys and girls, today's going to be a tough one. What are you all working on at the moment?"

"Just research," Ally told him. "Reading through the archives and learning them."

"Good, you keep on that. Lizzy?"

"Doing that site surfing, checking the blogs," she pushed a sheet towards him. "Those are new ones I've found so far – I think it's too wide open for us to keep control."

He looked at the list thoughtfully and nodded. "Okay, stop that. John, are you still on with checking stuff in the Archives?"

"Yeah, I am. Nothing dangerously damaged yet."

"Right," he looked up from the sheet Lizzy had given him. "We've got a virus on the system. It's been throwing up false results and it's spreading, so we need to contain it. I need you all to finish what you're doing on the computers and power down – you've got half an hour before I power down Mainframe as well. Lizzy, I need you to get onto Gwen and go to her office. Take a radio, you're going to run operations from there. Anything that comes through, you need to radio through to us to deal with it, okay?"

"Can't we use mobiles?" she asked. "We could get disposable ones, presumably?"

Jack nodded slowly. "We could, but we've not got time to encrypt them and with the Roth and the Grint sniffing around, I don't want them to know where we are too easily."

"Radios are easier to break into," John pointed out. "You just need an open radio."

"That's why we use the Torchwood radios, which are already encrypted," Jack agreed. "Besides, they're a step ahead of us and have burnt their bridges, we'll be under their radar – trust me."

"We do," Lizzy told him. "So if something gets called in, I pass it on to you?"

"Tell us where it is, what the reports are saying," he instructed. "I'll decide how many and who will go and deal with it, so we need as much detail as you can give us."

"Okay, I'll finish up what I'm doing on the computer, give Gwen a call to warn her and get off. Do you want me to call her now and ask her to keep an eye on things and pass them on to us, if the computer's misbehaving?"

"Yeah, please," he nodded. "John, keep at it in the Archives, but stay within hollering distance. Ianto?"

"Yep?"

"I need your help with these," he smiled and with it, his eyes finally softened. "Half an hour before we go back to the nineteen sixties, guys."

Ianto picked up a couple of sandwiches and followed Jack back to their office with mug in one hand and food in the other. After putting his mug on his own desk, he dropped one of the sandwiches onto Jack's desk, on top of his paperwork, and leaned against the side. "What's next?" he asked, after swallowing a mouthful of his own sandwich.

Jack picked the sandwich up from on top of the paperwork and smiled up at him. "Thanks. Next is we need to find someone who can sort out our virus problem."

"Can't you or John do it?"

He shook his head. "It's coded in a completely foreign language for John, and I'm not good enough. He had to completely rewrite the Rift predictor programme, just to be able to understand it. No, we need someone who can code software in at least three languages commonly used today, because Tosh made up her own language."

"So we need to find ourselves a geek?" he crossed his legs and the action forced him to push further back onto Jack's desk. "You look like you've got an idea brewing."

"Yeah, well... there's a few people who've been on our radar for a while who I could sound out; but some of these blogs and sites that Lizzy's brought up could be even better," he smoothed the sheet out and took another bite of his sandwich, then tapped the sheet and spoke with his mouthful, "this one has a dedicated server, and it's grown hugely since I was last here."

Ianto rolled his eyes and put his hand over Jack's mouth. "I've already seen your lunch, I don't need to see it again."

"Sorry," he put the sandwich down out of the way and reached automatically for his computer, then settled back with a sigh. "When it appeared, we checked up on the kid running it – he was still at university, but we needed a technician. We just never had a chance to look him up."

"What's his name?"

"Daniel Fforde," Jack reached for something that wasn't there again and frustration clouded his eyes suddenly. "We had a file on him, but it's..."

"And we can't get it off Mainframe," Ianto squeezed his shoulder. "Do you know where to find him?"

"Well, he was at Cardiff University," he bit his lip again and looked up at Ianto. "That would be a place to start."

"It would," he shoved the last of his sandwich in his mouth and wiped his fingers on his jeans, then went to get their coats. "We're going to see a university about a man. We'll take a radio, call us if anything happens."

Jack gave him a quizzical look before turning around so that Ianto could help him put his coat on. "How close are you to ready to go, Lizzy?"

"I can go now, really," she said. "Just need to shut down."

"Come on then," he dug the keys out of his pocket and grabbed the sleeve of Ianto's leather Jacket before it hit him in the face. "Careful there."

The main building of Cardiff University where the administration offices were housed was a huge, grand edifice just outside the centre of town, white marble and elegant statues. It should have been overblown, but it was simply classic. Jack hung back to admire it whilst Ianto headed in, admiring too the way Ianto blended in with the sparse crowd of students – he missed the suits, he really did. He missed feeling, knowing, that he was the only person who knew what was underneath those suits, missed removing them at the end of the day – most of all he missed knowing what was underneath them, knowing from the suit Ianto picked and how he wore it what mood he was in, knowing that the suits were something familiar to search for in a crowd.

In the foyer, he found Ianto standing a queue and looking remarkably serene about the fact – it was that sort of serene expression he got when the options were a serene contemplation of the contents of their fridge, or punching someone. He explained it just after they arrived in Cardiff, when they finally got out of their first joint supermarket trip – no one had died, because Ianto had spent the time they were in the queue remembering everything in the trolley and counting up how much it cost. Like counting to ten, but more involved, he'd said.

Jack joined him in the queue just as the student being seen dashed away from the desk, moving them one closer to being seen. The young woman behind him glared and he looked at her questioningly before turning to Ianto again. Ianto smirked and schooled his face into that blank mask again, whilst Jack twitched and fought the urge to push to the front and wave his Torchwood authorisation around – he couldn't get away with that now, really. Shame, it was much easier before. Finally the queue moved again and he and Ianto were at the front; the girl directly in front of them only took a minute to collect a form, and then they could get up to the counter. Jack braced his hands on it and flashed his most winning smile. "Hi, we're from Torchwood, we're looking for one of your students, possibly former students. We know he was studying here eighteen months ago."

The woman behind the counter, a stereotypically frumpy middle-aged lady with a large cardigan, gave him an assessing look and then sighed. "You've got ID?"

He handed it over and she peered at it over her glasses. "He's not in trouble, we're just looking for him to talk to him about our computer system."

She nodded and pulled the keyboard over. "What's his name?"

"Daniel Fforde," Jack told her, "two Fs."

She nodded and typed in the name extremely slowly, then searched through the registry. Jack kept smiling, but he could feel Ianto rolling his eyes next to him. If they'd had Mainframe they could have hacked the records and would know where Daniel was by now. "You're in luck," she startled him out of his reverie. "He's in a lecture right now, up on the third floor. Room 456."

Jack swallowed and nodded, throat suddenly very dry. He heard Ianto thank her and then felt himself being steered away to an empty stairwell. Ianto's hands blazed heat through his coat when they landed on his shoulders, and Jack turned his head to press his cheek against the back of Ianto's hand rather than look at him. "Sorry," he said quietly.

Ianto shook his head and squeezed Jack's shoulders again. "You've got a virus, Jack," he said seriously, and Jack felt a chill sweep over him again. "It's throwing up false results."

Jack swayed for a moment, torn between falling forwards and pulling away, and eventually turned to walk up the stairs. "It was a virus that killed him," he pointed out shortly.

Behind him, Ianto gave a heavy, stuttering sigh and started up the stairs. He took them two at a time until he caught Jack up. "I'm sorry. I didn't..."

"It's okay," he gave him a sidelong look and a tight smile. "It didn't happen for you."

"Happened for you," Ianto squeezed his arm and sighed. "I should be more careful about these things."

"I'm not made of glass," Jack snapped, pulling his arm away and getting a step ahead of Ianto.

Ianto stopped where he was and glared up the stairs. "No, you're made of flesh and bone, because you're human! You don't have to be invulnerable as well, you're allowed to admit that you've been hurt... that I hurt you," he added more softly.

At the top of that flight, Jack pushed the door half open, then relaxed his arm and let the door shut again. His shoulders hunched slightly and he dropped his forehead against the wood. Ianto read the invitation and came up to rest his hands on Jack's shoulder-blades, then waited for him to speak. Eventually, Jack slid his hand over his own shoulder, and Ianto's fingers crept up to meet it. "I can't, Ianto. If I flex, I'll break," his voice dropped to a whisper to add, "and that truly would drive you away."

Ianto squeezed his hand more tightly and stepped even closer. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Jack Harkness."

"Promise?" Jack asked, smiling back over his shoulder.

"I promise," Ianto squeezed his hand and pushed. "Now come on, we've got to catch him before the end of the lecture or we'll never find him."

Jack nodded and pushed out onto the corridor. Three doors down, he stopped outside room 456, knocked on the door and pushed it open slightly. "Hi, we're looking for Daniel," he glanced around the room and spotted him. "Can we have a word when you're finished?"

He nodded across the room and ducked his head behind his computer screen as people turned to look at him. Jack nodded apologetically to the lecturer and retreated to the corridor again to lean against the wall next to Ianto. "Found him."

Ianto nodded. "I guessed. Want to check in with the others?"

"No, they'll call us if they need us. I don't want to call until I know that he's going to help us."

"You think he won't?" Ianto dropped his head to the side to study Jack's ear.

Jack shrugged. "He probably will, in the short term at least. If he doesn't, though, we go to the next person on the list and hope that they're as easy to find."

"We'll get someone," Ianto reassured him. "Even if we have to steal someone from UNIT or Geneva."

Jack huffed a laugh and nodded. "UNIT would love that. I don't want anyone from UNIT near our computer system, though. I'd take someone from CERN, but never UNIT."

"What do we tell him?" Ianto asked, watching the students gathering their things together. "I assume that he knew Ianto?"

"We'll tell him the truth," Jack shrugged. "I want to keep him, and if he can handle it, it's a good sign."

"That'll make one person who can cope with it," Ianto rolled his eyes. "Well, one is an improvement, I suppose."

The door clunked open and Daniel pulled it shut behind him, then set off down the corridor. "Let's find an empty room for this," he calls over his shoulder, movements tense. "People are going to think I've been up to something if you keep coming after me like this." Ianto shut the door and leaned on it, whilst Jack sat on the edge of the desk and they both watched Daniel pace. "Anyway, I heard you were dead, mate," he shot over at Ianto, "or has he given you sexually transmitted immortality..."

"You know, I'm starting to remember why I never offered you a permanent position," Jack cut him off. "Ianto died at Thames House. This is Ianto, who's from a parallel universe and much more likely to shoot you."

Ianto inclined his head and smirked. "Good to meet you, Daniel. Jack tells me that you're good with computers."

Daniel sank onto the desk and bit his lip. "Oh. Sorry, I liked Ianto. Wondered why I hadn't heard form him in a while, if you were here. What do you want?"

"We've got a computer virus on Mainframe," Jack explained. "It's throwing out false warnings. I've shut down the system to prevent it developing, but I need you to recode it and find out where it came from."

"What's in it for me?"

"Erm, your city doesn't get taken over by aliens?" Ianto suggested.

Jack chuckled. "Which would you prefer, a job straight off, or when you've finished your degree?"

"If you'll employ me now, I'll take it. What changed?"

"We're building a team," Jack stood and advanced on him. "We've got five so far, you could be number six."

"That's double what it was last time," Daniel sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Okay, I'll give it a shot. I'll do this job for you, and then we'll take it from there."

Ianto met Jack's eyes and nodded, then pulled away from the door. "Welcome to the team, Dan."

Ianto took Jack's coat and hung it up, rolling his eyes when Jack bounded away from him as soon as he was free. Following at a more sedate pace, Ianto stopped to lean on the railings to watch Jack get Daniel settled at one of the spare stations. Ally had her feet up and was reading through a heavy file, probably the one on Weevils or Daleks, Ianto thought; something that had caused a lot of problems, anyway. She turned the page and scribbled a note on the jotter next to her, then caught his gaze and smiled. Jack was bending over Daniel's chair, guiding him into the computer system, trousers and shirt stretched tight over the curve of his back and presenting Ianto with no reason to move from his position behind Jack. Ally rolled her eyes at him and dropped her gaze to the file again, content to ignore them all.

Behind Ianto in the office, the radio fizzed and Lizzy's voice came through. _"Everything alright back there?"_ she asked, clearly bored.

Ianto gave Jack a smile and waved him back to work when he turned, then ducked into the office and flopped into Jack's chair to grab the radio up. "Lillibet, having fun there?"

"_No,"_ there was a sound that could have been the radio or could have been Lizzy snorting. _"How's everything going over there?"_

"We've got Jack's pet geek in to look at it," Ianto leaned back to look out of the door. "Jack's bending over the desk for us."

"_Oh how nice of him, permission to steal photos from the CCTV?"_

"CCTV's offline," he pointed out. "Sorry."

"_Damn, next time then,"_ there was another crackle and a noise that could have been an exclamation. _"I refuse to think the word 'bored ever again'," _she told him. _"Ianto, there's a report coming in, sounds like the Rift's dumped something on us."_

"I'll get Jack," he told her, then leaned back and hollered, "Jack, Rift opening!"

Jack pushed away from Daniel's desk and came to stand behind Ianto, leaning over again with his arms wrapped around Ianto's shoulders."What have you got for us, Liz?"

"_Twelve calls to the police and counting. Reports of a bright light and a monster at the estate on Newport Road. Sainsbury's staff have called it in, so it's down that way."_

Jack rubbed at his face with his hand, straightening up and reaching for his coat. "It's fifteen minutes away, and already there. What are the reports saying?"

"_It's about the size of a large dog, sharp claws. Done a lot of damage to cars and killed one driver directly, caused a traffic accident as well with unknown casualties. Sainsbury's staff lured it into their warehouse and shut it in, but with those claws they don't think it'll hold it for long if it chooses to get out."_

"They've evacuated the store?"

"_Yeah, everyone's out," _she confirmed. _"What do we do?"_

Jack looked up at the clock whilst Ianto helped him get his coat on and then slipped his gun into its holster. "You need to stay there to coordinate. Ianto, Ally and I will go and deal with it. Can you send the police's squad down there? They'll get there before us, have them clear the area completely and track it down as much as possible, but don't let them approach. It'll be best if they can keep it in the warehouse."

"_On it. They're on alert already."_

"Good," Jack grabbed the portable radio from the desk and clipped it to his belt, then followed Ianto out of the door. He and Ally were already kitting up, so Jack just had to yell John up from the archives and get him to help Daniel with Mainframe.

They were back in the SUV in under five minutes, blue lights flashing as they roared up into town. Jack was tense because he had to listen to Ianto organising Gwen's team, rather than being able to do anything himself. It took him back to the middle of the last century, when he'd been reasonably settled in Cardiff as Torchwood's guard dog, doing their dirty work and not getting any messages between the start of a mission and the end of it. They ignored him, except when they needed him so that no one else had to do the truly...

Ianto's hand squeezed his hip and he let his breath out in a whoosh, releasing his painfully tight grip on the steering wheel. Lizzy chattered away over the radio, telling them the locations of the police team and the latest reports on the alien, feeding them as much information as she could give them. He dropped his hand to Ianto's and squeezed it back, not taking his eyes from the road. "We're not far off, now. Probably another couple of minutes."

"You hear that, Lizzy?" Ianto asked. "Jack says we'll be there in a couple of minutes."

"Jack says shit," he said loudly. "Traffic's backed up badly. Lizzy, can you get us a report on the roads?"

There was absolute silence whilst Lizzy found the information at the other end, then her voice came over the radio, tentative and quiet. "I'm sorry, Jack, it's totally gridlocked," he swore and Ianto ran his hand through his hair. "I should have seen that and warned you, I..."

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "We'll go on foot from here. Ianto, take the radio. You've got to guide us in, Lizzy."

"It's still in Sainsbury's warehouse," she said quickly. "But it's made it to the door and seems to be trying to escape."

Jack pulled the SUV out of the stationary traffic onto the pavement and got out. "Come on, kids, let's move it."

Ally and Ianto fell into step behind him. "If we go straight up here and turn left, we can come to the back of the store by the back routes, Jack," Ally told him with her gaze fixed on her phone. "They should be clearer."

He grabbed a discarded shopping trolley from the middle of the pavement and stopped in the act of shoving it away, studying it speculatively. "Ianto, do we have dinosaur nets in the back of the SUV?"

"Oh you can't be serious..." Ianto glared at him.

Jack pulled the trolley back to the SUV and opened the boot. "We can't carry the stuff we need, so we'll wheel it instead." He loaded the largest net and one of the med kits into the trolley, then threw the tranquiliser kit in on top. "I hope that's everything we need."

Ianto sighed. "As if we couldn't get any more ridiculous."

It took them ten minutes to get into the yard at the back of the store, where Gwen was waiting with her task force. She bit back laughter at the trolley and had to focus her attention on the back of the store again. "Looks like you've brought everything, Jack."

"I hope so," he let go of the trolley and it trundled into a wall, stopping with a resounding crash. "Do you have a picture yet?"

"Yeah," she beckoned him over. "We got this off the CCTV. What do you make of it?"

He held the picture up and frowned. "I don't recognise it," he admitted.

"I do, it's a Kistrad," Ianto said quietly. "We got them at Torchwood before... Yeah."

Jack passed him the photo. "What can you tell us?"

"Vicious buggers," Ianto said distantly. "Don't like loud noises."

"Is there a sound system in the warehouse?" Ally looked around and fished in her bag.

There were two employees standing close to them, and one nodded slowly. "Yeah, but the control room's at the back of the warehouse, closer to the store."

Jack nudged Ally's arm. "What are you thinking?"

"Well..." she bit her lip and blinked as the back door shuddered. "If I run around to the front, get into the warehouse through the store, I can put music on really, really loud through the PA and confuse it, hopefully."

Jack and Ianto looked at each other. "That makes sense," Ianto agreed. "Then you and I can storm the back and get it."

"Okay," Jack beckoned to one of the store workers. "You lead the way, Ally, stay armed and stay low. Okay?"

"On it. With me," she turned and ran down the side of the building with the store worker close behind her.

Gwen wrapped her arms around herself and smiled tightly. "How are they settling in, then?"

"Really well," Jack smiled at her. "You and Lizzy seem to be getting on."

"Yeah, she's a good kid."

"Don't start, Gwen," he sighed and leaned against the wall, tucking his collar up as it started to rain. "They know what they're getting into, don't think that they don't."

Gwen shook her head. "They're just kids, Jack. They're younger than..."

"I know, they're even younger than Ianto was when he died," he snapped, hunching his shoulders. "I intend to keep them alive for longer. No more stupid mistakes."

With his eyes shut, he didn't see Ianto coming, just felt him lean into him and tuck Jack's head into his shoulder. His eyes fluttered and he sighed into Ianto's chest before lifting his head to look over his shoulder to the back door. "Come on, Ally."

He wrapped his arms around Ianto loosely whilst they waited. It seemed so natural to just hold onto each other whilst they had the time. The wet quiet was shattered as Led Zeppelin blasted out inside the warehouse, and Ianto chuckled and pulled his gun from the holster. "Well, she's got good taste in music."

Jack nodded and pulled his own gun out. "What do you advise?"

"Shoot to kill," Ianto told him whilst checking his clip. "There's no returning them, and no rehabilitating them. They're killers."

"Okay, stay outside the rest of you," he instructed. "In."

The alien was trying to climb one of the shelving units to get to the speakers when they burst in. Tins and packets strewn across the floor in the twisted skeleton of another unit indicated that it had already tried that. Ianto got off the first shot and sent baked beans spraying across between them and it. With a snarl, it sprang to the floor again and lunged into the building, towards Ally. Jack ran back to the door and yelled for the police squad to cover the exit, then directed Ianto to the left and went right himself. He could see Ianto padding through the shelves parallel with him, boots making virtually no noise on the slick floor. Up ahead, the alien was...

"Ianto, now," he snapped as it crashed through the window into the control room. There was a scream and shots, and Jack nearly threw himself across the broken glass to get into the control box, barely stopping in time. He gripped onto the glass as he took aim and hissed as it cut into his palm, lowering his gun slowly at the sight before him.

Ianto pulled the door open and let the terrified store worker out so that he could get in himself and catch Ally. She was swaying, blood spreading slowly across her T shirt from a wide gash below her ribcage, and the alien was dead on the floor. Ianto gathered her against him and she turned her head into his chest, then he picked her up. "We've got to get her to a doctor, Jack."

He nodded and grabbed for his radio. "Lizzy, is that doctor friend of yours on duty?"

_"Erm, yeah,"_ she answered slowly. _"Why, what's happened?"_

"Tell him that we need one of the rooms preparing, I'll tell you what's going on when we're not relying on you so much."

_"Jack,"_ she snapped, then the radio crackled._ "Look after her, Jack. I want her back in one piece."_

"I'm fine," Ally called groggily, but loud enough to be heard. "I'm getting Ianto hugs, it's fine."

_"Lucky cow, be okay!"_

"I will," she promised, more quietly now as she rested her head on Ianto's shoulder. "'ll be fine."

* * *

"I know you don't like grapes, but I hope you can cope with them bottled."

Ally picked up the bottle and nodded approvingly. "Plonk! You win, darling. Reckon your boyfriend will let me drink it in here?"

"What sort of medication are you on?" Lizzy asked, sitting on the end of the bed. "If it's anything stronger than Calpol, probably not."

Ally snorted and leaned back against the pillows. "I win, first injury on the job."

"Yeah, I'll let you have that one," Lizzy laughed. It trailed off into silence as they both sought for something to say.

"Is he your boyfriend?" Ally asked quickly. "Really?"

"What? Oh, no... well, not yet," she bit her lip. "Is that..."

Ally huffed a laugh and looked out of the window. "Lizzy, you're straight. It was going to have to be okay one day."

"Yeah, sorry about that," she sighed. "That kid that Jack and Ianto brought in got the job done. They even hired him."

She chuckled. "Tell them that it's to be a pretty girl next time. Not many chances for dating except through work in this job."

"I'll pass the message on. And now I'd better get back to work. Oh," she paused and tossed a book onto the bed. "A little light reading."

Ally turned it over and snorted, then buried herself in the Encyclopedia of Geography.


	6. Game On

**Author's Note:** I'm so sorry this has taken so long. It went on hiatus so that I could time it right with the new series of Doctor Who, and then didn't pick it up again. This is a long one to make up for it, and I really am hoping to be back on the horse now.

* * *

"Hub lockdown code three," Ally called across the Hub.

"Biological contaminant loose within the Archives," Lizzy called back without looking up from her computer screen. "Lock down the whole Archives and sub-lockdown for the contaminated area. Vent the whole thing and open decon... four?"

"And three B?" Jack asked from behind her.

She clutched her chest and threw a pen at him. "Christ, Jack! Warn a girl before you do that. Three B is for a sentient contamination – lockdown and open communications."

He passed her the pen and leered. "Three C?"

"Letch," she pushed him away. "Where's Ianto, anyway?"

"Don't know, not talking to me, all of the above?" he rapped a rhythm on the back of Dan's chair and leaned over him. "How are you getting on with Mainframe?"

"Better than you're getting on with Ianto, he's in the firing range, by the way. Maybe you should go offer yourself up as a target," he suggested.

Jack slapped the back of his head and walked away. "What about you, Dan? How are you getting on?"

"I want to do a medical check on you still, Jack..."

"Not a chance," he cut him off. "Apart from that?"

Tom sighed. "Apart from that, I've emailed you a list of supplies I need, and I've got in touch with Martha Jones to fill in some gaps in the medical records. She says hello and to call her."

"Noted," he jogged up to his office. "John, Ally, we're going on a stooge around the block. Lizzy, keep training Dan and Tom on the protocols."

"And Ianto?"

Jack shrugged his coat on and picked up his keys. "He's in charge whilst I'm gone, so whatever he likes."

Eyebrows raised as he swept out of the door, and Ally and John followed him out. They found him waiting by the SUV for the garage doors to open, keys hanging loosely from his hand and shoulders bowed. As soon as he became aware of their presence he straightened up and gave Ally the keys, then nodded to the car. "You'll have to get used to driving in it at some point," he pointed out to her mildly panicked look. "Just remember that she's big, and not as quick to respond as your Coda."

"Corsa," she corrected, sliding into the driver's seat. She made the adjustments carefully, stalling for time, until Jack squeezed her hand.

"You'll be fine. It's just like any other car, but with more guns."

Ally snorted at that, and ignored John's muttering from the back seat about the need for more and bigger guns. The garage door had been open for too long, so she started the car and eased out, through the underground car park below the Millennium Centre, past cars belonging to members of the Welsh Assembly and the civil servants who made the wheels turn there. Jaguar, Rover, BMW, Porsche, Fiat, Vauxhall... "Oh, that's pretty!" she said of the Jaguar XJR as she passed it.

"Focus, Ally," Jack chided with good humour. "It's too pretty to drive an SUV into."

"Okay," she breathed, dragging her eyes back to the signs pointing her to the exit – the ones that were conspicuous only by their absence. Jack had turned around to talk to John, guiding him through the process for setting up the running scans that they were going to take, so she kept going, eyes peeled for anything that would lead her up and into the open. When she finally found it, she was tempted to yell something about freedom and dash off into the sunset, but she was driving and couldn't think of a suitable movie quote, so she settled for wincing as the winter sun nearly blinded her. "Gods, it's November, doesn't the sun know this?"

Jack laughed at her. "Do you have your sunglasses?"

"No," she scoffed, "that would be practical. Where am I taking us?"

He looked around the junction whilst she waited for a break in the traffic and gestured up the road. "Take us up Bute Terrace, then around the A470, out to the stadium and back in on Clarence Street, it'll cover us plenty of ground. Okay?"

"Why are you asking me?" she glanced at him and was finally able to pull out. "You're in charge – I leave the thinking to you."

"And don't you forget it." He turned in his seat to look back at John. "Is that all behaving itself?"

"Yeah, no problems," John replied distractedly. "It's all behaving, all interfacing, all that jazz."

"Good, Lizzy?" Jack had activated his comms. device and his gaze had drifted off to the middle distance. "Are you at a computer? Good, I want you to get the data that's feeding through from the SUV, monitor it and set Mainframe processing it, okay? Good girl, we'll see you later."

"I thought this was just a routine stooge," Ally commented as she pulled onto the inner ring road that ran around Cardiff's city centre. "Just showing our faces and getting out of the Hub."

"It is," Jack protested. "But the more scans we can do of the city, the better. We might as well take the opportunity."

"Fair point," she agreed as someone cut her up. "Oh for God's sake, can't they see me? Am I invisible in this thing?"

For all that it was twice as heavy as her car, and about as easy to steer as a cat, Ally got the hang of the SUV and settled into the mindless awareness of driving, barely distracted by Jack and John's conversation between the front and back. When Jack spoke to her, though, she shook herself out of it and glanced briefly at him. "Where should I pull in?"

He flashed her a mercurial grin and looked again at the data that John had shown him. "There's a car park around the corner. Just pull in there. Are you armed?"

"Yeah, yeah... do you think I'll need it?" she asked cautiously, pulling to a stop but not taking her hands off the wheel. "What have you found?"

"There's readings of some tech that shouldn't be here in that mill, sweetheart," John drawled, nearly kicking the back door open and oozing out to open her door for her. "You might need it, might not."

"That really fills me with confidence," she snapped.

Jack came around the bonnet of the car and squeezed her elbow. "You'll be fine. Stick with me, I'll show you what to do. John, take the ground floor, I'll take Ally over the first, okay?"

"Got it," John nodded, flicking his holsters open. "In, make sure that there's nothing there, out?"

"That's the plan," Jack squeezed again. "You ready for this?"

Ally straightened her shoulders and met his gaze. "I'm going to have to one day, might as well be today. I'm ready."

Jack smiled at her, surprising her with the pride in it, and turned to lead them into the building.

* * *

Dan didn't look up when Ianto passed by his work station on his way to the coffee machine, just waved his mug and gave him a thumbs up. "Thanks, Ianto, kind of..."

"Busy?" Ianto guessed wryly. "I can tell. What have you got?"

"Oh, Mainframe," he shrugged and sat back to watch for a while. "Jack thinks I'm pushing her too hard."

"I see..." Ianto sounded dubious. "Speaking of which, where is he? Still out?"

"Yehuh. They were checking out some dubious readings, but he didn't think they'd find anything. That was a while back, actually. Must be a big place. You know, he thinks that you're not speaking to him."

"I'm not," Ianto confirmed, somewhat distractedly as he dropped into the chair in front of the spare station and powered it up. "Well, not not speaking to him, just... need some space. How long did you say they'd been checking it out?"

"It's..." he checked briefly and then returned his attention to his ongoing fight with Mainframe. "Twenty two minutes since they checked in."

"Shit," Ianto hissed, not needing to get into the computer to know that something was wrong. "Procedure is to check in every ten minutes or more often. You can argue with Mainframe later."

"They probably just didn't find anything," Dan protested, but did as he was told, shutting down the programme he'd been working on to open the communication and data feeds. "The SUV hasn't moved..."

"No, I can see that," Ianto reached for his comms. and activated them. "Jack, are you there? Jack... Or John? Or Ally? Okay, so we assume that they're not there. Why, and where are they?"

"What do I do, boss?" Dan asked.

"Get Lizzy and Tom up here, now," he ordered, heading for his and Jack's office. "Lizzy and I are going out there, you are going to monitor from here and give us your full attention, and Tom is going to get the medical bay set up, got it?"

"Got it, boss."

"Lizzy!" Ianto yelled, "Come armed; we're probably walking into trouble."

"That is not a sentence I like to hear, Ianto," she called.

"I know, but the sentence 'we've lost Jack, John and Ally' is worse," Ianto pointed out as he attached his holster and shrugged on his leather jacket. "Get your coat, dear, we're leaving."

The Hub was a hive of activity again, Tom clattering around in the medical bay and preparing it for the use they hope it won't be put to, Dan yelling out coordinates and readings that the scans had taken. It all came to a stop when, with Ianto waiting for the lift up to the garage, Dan yelled out, "I've found John!"

Ianto hurtled back to the computers and pushed Dan out of the way to look at the feed, then rushed to the door. "Get him back on comms. as soon as you can, tell him to stay where he is and that we're coming for him. Lizzy!"

"Right behind you," she told him, clattering through the door. "What do we do?"

"We..." Ianto unlocked his car and paused with his hand on the open door. "We get there and find John. Then we'll know what the situation is and we can set about getting Jack and Ally out."

"That sounds... okay, plan," she strapped in and grabbed onto the dashboard when Ianto span the car around. "Dan, what have you got from the scans of the building... they must have been going on whilst they were there."

Ianto's knuckles whitened on the steering wheel whilst Lizzy listened to Dan's report with growing concern. He waited until the instant she'd disconnected to speak. "What did he say? What's wrong?"

"The scans were picking up disturbance... some readings and the signals that they got from the building, but the longer they were there the more disturbance they picked up. Like background noise, but damping some deeper signals. They almost certainly walked into a trap."

He cursed and accelerated faster, weaving through the traffic at dangerous speeds, blue lights flashing. "Has he got in touch with John?"

"He says not but..." she frowned. "John's trying to break into the SUV."

Ianto grunted. "I hope he's not trying too hard. It's a pain in the arse getting the locks changed."

"Well if he gets into the car then we can talk to him," she pointed out. "And he can get hold of Lots of Guns."

Ianto nodded and his jaw tightened, not unclenching until he pulled up alongside the SUV and jumped out to grab John's shoulders. "Are you alright, what happened, where are they? Answers in that order, and stay with me..."

John scowled and pulled away to tumble into the back seat of Ianto's car and cradle his head in his hands. "I'm fine. We got knocked out by a pulse bomb of some sort, hence the headache. I woke up disarmed, but otherwise untouched, Jack and Ally were missing, along with the car keys."

"Okay," Ianto looked up at the building and toyed with his keys. "Right. Lizzy, take John back in my car; I'll follow you in the SUV. Straight back to the Hub."

Tom was waiting for them, ready to bully John into the medical bay, where they held their conference around Tom's bustling and John's headache. He told them again what he'd told Ianto, not having any more information to give, and watched as Ianto paced along the walkway above him. John's hands were clenched in his lap and his eyes were closed to stave off the headache that the painkillers hadn't touched yet, Lizzy had her knees tucked up under her chin and was sitting halfway up the steps, and Dan was leaning against the wall to stare fixedly at his laptop and give Ianto room to pace. They were waiting for Jack to say something, Lizzy thought distantly.

Ianto slammed his hand down on the rail and looked around them. "We're going to carry on. John, get your head down for a bit until you can look at anything without squinting; Tom, you watch him. Ally and Dan, you're going to look at the scans taken from the SUV and tell me as soon as you find out what's going on, and somewhere down the line, we're going to get them back."

"Where are you going to be?" Dan asked, hugging the computer as Ianto pushed past him.

"I'll be in our office. And you don't want to know what I'm doing there."

Exchanging dark looks, they hurried to their tasks, and Dan pulled a chair over for Ally. "Pull up a pew and have a look at these," he instructed, swinging a screen around. "That's the readings that they went in investigating. Clean the signal up and cross reference it with the archives, see if there's anything matching. If not, then keep cleaning, see if you can flush out how many devices, what size, stuff like that."

"Right..." she brushed her hair back and pulled closer to the desk. "Okay Mainframe, baby. Show me what you got."

Dan frowned at the background scans. "If that's how you talk to girls, no wonder you're single..."

It took two hours for anyone to get a result, and they were sitting at the conference table with pizza and coffee, not talking about the headway they hadn't made in finding their team mates. Ianto and Dan had their laptops out and were working hard through the meal, only looking up occasionally to grab another slice of pizza before they went on typing one-handed and glaring at their screens, as if that could change the results. Halfway through a slice of ham and pineapple, Dan's hand froze to hover halfway to his mouth, which was hanging open. "Ianto... Shite, I've got something."

Ianto shoved the pizza in his mouth, wiped his hands on a cloth and snatched the laptop off him. "Talk me through it."

Dan sighed and reached over to take control of the touch pad. "Incoming communication. It's encoded but..."

"How long?"

"Give me the laptop back and I'll get it done," he said, reaching for it already. Ianto pushed it across to him and got up to lean over the back of his chair and watch as his programme took apart the coding on the message they'd been sent. "Ready, boss?" he asked when it was done.

Ianto nodded and reached forwards to play it. The video they'd been sent was grainy and grey, and showed Jack lying, face away from the camera, so still that he was either unconscious or dead. Ianto's eyes turned icy as the voice started. _"We have the Captain and your colleague, Torchwood," _it spat. _"Leave us to our business, and we will leave you to yours. We will return one of them, and keep the other to ensure your co-operation. As a sign of good faith, you can choose which of them will be our... guest, and which will be returned to you. Midnight, on the Alexandra Dock."_

On the video, Jack gave a great gasp and started upwards, only to be shot dead by someone off screen. Ianto bit back a snarl and glared at the now black screen whilst the rest of the team sat back in shock. Tom was the first to speak. "Blue Green Algae... we can't let them dump... anyone, really, into the dock."

Ianto rolled his eyes and turned on his heel. "Conference room, now. I'll be up with coffee."

His hands shook as he found the coffee and turned the machine on, collecting mugs and putting Jack's back after a pause. By the time he placed the last mug on the tray, he was calmer and his hands were steady again, allowing him to hide his emotions and Keep Buggering On. The team looked up as he entered the room and set their coffees before them. He picked up his own from the tray and sat in his chair carefully, wrapping his hands around the mug and looking at them all. "Grint or Roth?" he asked.

Lizzy shuddered and put her mug down again. "Grint, unless the boundaries have changed a lot since Jack left. Is this punishment for that raid?"

Ianto shrugged and scowled. "Punishment and warning. Part of their push towards the Bay I expect. We can't leave either of them in there."

"Are they asking us to turn a blind eye?" Tom asked him.

"Yep. To give them free reign."

"Fuck that," John snorted, "Ianto, Grint punishment doesn't involve death. Death's too fast."

"I know," Ianto said quietly. "Whenever we cross their boundaries, they'll be tortured. And we can't not cross those boundaries."

"We can't leave either of them to that," Tom said. "But Jack..."

"Jack can survive it, but he's less emotionally able to cope with it than Ally is," John cut him off. "Just because the wounds heal doesn't mean that they don't hurt."

Tom nodded and looked at Ianto. "So... assuming that tonight, we have to make the choice... who?"

His grip tightened as he ran through the arguments in his head, coming back to the same conclusion over and over. "I can't make this choice," he realised, looking up at John. "I can't choose, because I have to choose Jack, and always will, but I don't know if I'm choosing him for the right reasons. So... There, I choose Jack. But you can overthrow that, if you all think I'm wrong."

John shook his head. "We need Jack for this. He knows the rules better than any of us."

Lizzy bit her lip and nodded, and Dan coughed. "And it'd be better if you could concentrate, Ianto."

Tom looked around and finally nodded slowly. "Jack, then."

It was never truly dark in Cardiff now, Jack mused absently whilst they waited. It had been dark at nights in that awful period after John and Grey ripped the city apart, but Jack hadn't seen it. Rebuilding the city, even seeing it, had been beyond him, for all his courageous talk. When he'd crashed, he'd crashed hard, and a month had passed without his knowledge before he was ready to leave the safety of Ianto's flat and wrest control back from UNIT.

He tugged on his bonds to distract himself and bit back the hiss when they dug into his wrists again. Cable ties were brutal, and effective in their brutality. You only tried to get free so often. Ally leaned into him again and he could feel her shivering, but couldn't offer any comfort. She sighed and muttered, "I'm seasick."

"Sorry," he nudged her and checked over his shoulder to make sure that they were still being ignored. "You'll be off this boat and home soon, I promise."

"Pardon me if I remain unconvinced, but be assured that it's not your word that I don't trust," she leaned back against him properly and tipped her head back. "At least we know that one of us is getting home."

"Chin up, doll," he chided.

"It is up," Ally huffed. "Very up, I'm looking at the stars."

"That's my girl," Jack told her over the increasing thrum of the boat's engines.

She snorted and tensed because the boat was moving again. "Dream on, Casanova."

"Oh I do," he purred.

"Letch."

Voices called out behind them, and Jack thought that he could hear Ianto's, vague and distant as he yelled out their agreement... Or he could have turned down the proposition-threat altogether, and come up with some mad scheme to get them out; Jack hated not knowing. He couldn't summon up a smile as he said to Ally, "Give Ianto my love", as their captors approached them.

She nodded and sat up straight, squinting to see them better. It wasn't Ally they went for, though. Cold hands seized Jack and hauled him to his feet. "They have chosen," the voice was equally cold behind him, and the movement made the ties dig into his wrists again.

He shook his head. "No, her. Let her go. She's seasick."

The voice laughed, but the hesitation suggested that they were considering it. They all knew that Jack was a far more valuable prize than Ally was. "You'd ask us to release the girl instead of you?"

"Yeah. Get her home," he told them as calmly as he could whilst his instincts screamed at him.

She sobbed and the dragged her to her feet, pushing her towards the edge of the boat less reluctantly than they'd pushed Jack. They really hadn't wanted to let him go, apparently. Then she saw her transport back to the shore. "Oh... no no no no," she backed away, squirming and fighting them. "No, I am not getting in that thing."

"Stop!" Jack cut across both Ally's desperate fighting and their captors' aggravated mutterings. "Let my hands loose." After a moment's consideration, they did as instructed, and Jack could wrap his arms around her and press her face into his shoulder, could feel her full body shudders and her sobs. "I've got you," he whispered, "it's alright, I've got you, I'll look after you."

When the shudders had lessened to just shivers in the cold, Ally sniffed and turned her face into his neck. "I can't get in that... thing, Jack. I just can't."

He nodded and kissed her hair. "It's alright, doll, it's okay. I won't make you. And I won't leave you."

"Yes you will," she had to use a shoulder to push him away, but she did it. "You have to go back to them and stop Ianto panicking, so that you can all think straight and..." she trailed off.

Jack laughed lightly, hiding the bitterness. "I doubt he's panicking; he's a bit pissed off with me at the moment."

"Doesn't mean that he doesn't care." She shook her head and nodded across towards the Hub. "He'll be worrying, I've got no one waiting for me... It should have been you all along."

Jack sighed and stepped away fully, nodding to the alien behind him. "Alright Vaskor, back to plan A. Send me back."

"And you will keep your side of the bargain?" Vaskor asked, mostly amused. He didn't trust Jack any further than Jack trusted him, and it would only get worse when they got Ally back, which they would. He couldn't leave her in their hands, even leaving her behind now was almost too much to bare, no matter how badly he needed to get away from them himself.

"I'd promise that," he said distantly and with a bitter smile. "If I thought you'd believe me, and if I thought that you'd keep yours."

"Ah, Captain," Vaskor pointed him into the tiny rubber dinghy that had terrified Ally and pushed him off. "Game on."

Ianto tucked his hands into his armpits and stomped around on the path without taking his eyes off the movement on the boat out in the Bay. They didn't have a more effective means of communication than shouting, and his voice was sore, made worse by the fact that he'd sobbed in their office when he'd realised the last thing he'd said to Jack the previous night. "Not one of our best days," he muttered to himself.

"What's that?" John asked him.

Ianto shook his head. "Oh just... bad day, if that even covers it."

John laughed and leaned on the railing. "Bad day indeed. You know that we can't trust them, right?"

"I know," he sighed and looked along the bay. "Reckon you could steal one of those speedboats whilst I distract them?"

John clapped him on the shoulder and turned away, calling back, "You want milk in that?"

Ianto snorted and looked behind him at Tom and Lizzy, both buttoned up in their coats. "Lizzy, go with him. He might need the extra pair of hands."

She scurried off, and Tom came up to the railings to lean next to Ianto. "Going to send me to help Dan?" he asked quietly.

Ianto laughed and shook his head. "That was all legitimate. I have a feeling that someone's going to end up in the water... possibly me." He looked up at Tom. "Keep your head down, though. Shooting the medic is a sensible idea."

"Thanks for that," Tom turned around and sat down against the rails. "I feel really safe now."

"You aren't," Ianto straightened up, having spotted a smaller boat moving away from the lights of the one he'd been yelling at. "You're in Torchwood."

The smaller boat bobbed towards them, its tiny motor producing a lot more noise than movement. They could just pick out Jack's form against the darkness of the water by the time it slumped forwards and nearly fell out of the boat. A few seconds later, when it was clear that the boat was still going to reach them, with Jack on board, another shot stopped it in its already pathetic tracks as it took on water. Ianto gaped. "They just shot the boat. They..." he pulled his coat off, then tugged his boots open and off and discarded his jumped. Tom grabbed him and he shook him off. "Can't die, Jack's wearing wool... do me a favour and grab me some dry pants?" With that, he twisted away from Tom and vaulted the railings into the Bay.

It was icy cold, nearly cold enough to send him into shock instantly, but single-minded determination drove him on and out towards where he'd last seen Jack. With muscles numbed by the cold, it took too long to reach the boat, which was still floating just below the surface because of air still trapped inside it. Jack, though was nowhere to be seen. Ianto took a breath, as much as he could with his clothes so wet and chilled to the bone, and dove below the surface, reaching out blindly for anything. He found only weeds on his first attempt but, knowing that he only really had one more chance because of the cold, he pushed himself past his limit, until his lungs were burning and his vision would have been black even if he'd been able to open his eyes, and finally he touched something soft. Hair, skin, Jack's head, head wound – nasty, then his shoulders and the wool of his coat. Ianto grabbed under Jack's armpits and pushed up and forwards, taking them towards the surface and the shore.

It took forever, and nearly killed him (and boy did he know what that felt like these days) but he finally broke the surface and hauled in a lungful of air before Jack's weight dragged him under the surface.

Jack gasped and rolled over to empty his stomach of the water he'd taken on whilst dead. He groped out blindly and found someone's hand to grip onto whilst he convulsed. Someone else rubbed at his back and wrapped a fresh towel around him, which he burrowed into miserably. The hand in his was warm, but unresponsive, and he dragged himself over to look down at Ianto whilst his vision cleared. "Is he okay?" It came out hoarse, but understandable, at least.

John sat down on Ianto's other side and checked his pulse. "You've only been out of the water a minute or so. He lost consciousness just after breaking the surface, so at least we knew where to find you. Blew the element of surprise, though."

He wrapped Ianto's hand in both of his own and nodded. "He went in after me?"

"Of course he did," John scoffed, then softened. "He cares about you, whatever he said this morning."

"You heard that?" Jack winced.

"No, but it was easy enough to tell that he'd said something hurtful," John shrugged and stood up. "Let's get you back to shore and indoors, then you can share body heat and sort out whatever it was."

"We need to get Ally out," Jack protested. "Can't leave them with her, because we can't meet their demands."

John nodded. "I know. So we need to find out where they're going to hold her."

"You have a plan?"

"Yeah," he nodded towards Ianto. "Eyecandy and Dan traced the boat back to a car, Dan went out there to stick a tracker on it. He's on his way back already."

Jack watched John walk back to the controls and tugged Ianto into his arms to wait.

He fastened the buttons on his waistcoat as he walked, focussed on his task and the complexities of manipulating tight button holes with numb, stiff fingers. Jack's warm arms wrapped around him from behind and pulled his hands out of the way, then fastened them for him. "There's only three, how can it be so hard?" he practically purred into Ianto's ear, and Ianto let him hold on, leaning back rather than pulling away. "We should have stayed a bit longer," Jack sighed, "you're still cold."

Ianto shrugged. "I'm fine, and we have work to do."

"I know."

He turned and cradled Jack's face in his hands so that he could hold him still and lean in to kiss him. "You'll get her back. You're Captain Jack Harkness, savvy?"

"You have too much faith in me," Jack took his hands and held them, palms together, between them. "You were..."

"No, Jack, I was wrong. You're stronger than that, and you know it." He pulled his hands to be able to kiss the back of one of Jack's. "What's the plan?"

Jack pulled away and strode into the boardroom, where the others were waiting for them. "John, Dan, have you got that location for me?"

Dan passed him a map with the details printed below it. "We're fairly sure that she's still there. If she isn't, we have no way of knowing where she is."

Jack nodded and picked it up. "It's a start."

"What are you going to do, Jack?" Lizzy asked tightly. "If we try anything, they'll kill her."

"I know," he sat down next to her and looked around at all of them. "We're bound to leave them alone, to turn a blind eye to their activities. We can't do that, though."

"So we..."

Jack held up the piece of paper. "I was not bound to secrecy. We're caught in the middle of a turf war. Just this once, it could work to our advantage."

"Jackie, you can't treat with the Roth," John looked pitying. "They'll just screw you over."

"I have an... accord, with the Roth," Jack told him, and all of them. "The Grint and the Roth have been at war in Cardiff longer than I've been here. The Roth run the bars, the entertainment, some of the accomodation blocks. The Grint are more drug oriented, trading weapons and medicines. We tolerate the Grint for the medical supplies, the Roth for the information and the accomodation solutions. Neither are especially nice," he conceded, "but I know the Roth, I know their code, and I know their territory. This warehouse is in disputed territory, and the Roth will trade this information for almost anything I demand."

"Like what?" Tom asked

"Like the safe return of our agent and delivery of any contraband goods to us," he stood up. "Ianto, you're coming with me. The rest of you, stay ready to move on my orders."

They fastened their seatbelts in the front of Jack's car, and Jack pulled out of his parking space as soon as the door was open. Ianto settled back and watched Jack driving, rubbing his own hands together again to warm them up. He smiled when Jack touched the back of one of his hands, then closed his hand around Ianto's fingers. "You're still cold," he pointed out quietly. "I should have made you go back to bed instead of coming out with me... You shouldn't have come in after me in the first place."

Ianto huffed and brushed his thumb over Jack's hand. "I had to. You were sinking like a stone, wrapped in wool... you would have washed up in a month and your coat would have been ruined. And I would have missed you," he added more quietly. "Besides, I owed you one after this morning."

"You were right," Jack told him seriously, taking his hand back to change gear. "I should have told you, and you were right to be upset about it."

"You should be mad," Ianto shook his head and leaned back. "Sometimes I think you are. But if I was any sort of decent boyfriend I would have thought about what it meant for you, not about my own self-righteous indignation."

"Self-righteous?" Jack asked, amused. "Okay."

Ianto rolled his eyes. "So, going to explain to me what we're doing and where we're doing it?"

"Nice subject change," Jack smiled at him for a moment, then looked back to the road. "I'm taking you to the Black Star. It's a Roth run pub, and we'll be able to find them there."

"Why the Roth? Why can you just approach them like this?"

Jack shrugged. "We have an agreement."

"The sort of agreement that Torchwood leaders have denied all knowledge of in the past?" Ianto smiled despite his feelings towards Jack's predecessors and shook his head. "Sorry, go on."

Jack inclined his head. "Exactly that sort of agreement. The Roth discovered that if they conceded to some of our demands, we would be... less demanding. They consented to having their medical centres checked and certified, and we turned a blind eye to incoming shipments of medical supplies, and even buy from them if we need to – even though they charge absurd prices. They agree to avoid contact with humans and we're a bit more lenient on any of their idiots who get caught.

"The Grint are less willing to treat," he sighed. "They don't want to concede anything – so they're the ones bringing weapons, drugs, runaways from justice, things like that. The Roth tolerate Torchwood as the lesser of two evils – the Grint want both of us wiped off the map. This pub, the Black Star, is on former Grint territory, now in the heart of the Roth's patch. It's been run by the same family for over a century now, nearly as long as I've been here. Atraxit was born in Cardiff."

"What, erm, species?" Ianto asked hesitantly.

Jack grinned. "Oh, he's a blowfish too. He's sort of a go-between for them. Holds items and takes messages, stuff like that. And the Black Star is the meeting point as well. We'll meet the Roth leaders there tonight, I've met informants there before."

"Is one of us going to die tonight?" he sighed, fogging the window.

Jack shrugged. "Me, probably. I doubt they'd risk touching you, certainly not in front of me."

"Please try to stay alive?" Ianto beseeched, rubbing at his eyes tiredly. "Seeing you die once is more than enough for a twenty four hour period."

Jack smiled softly and splayed his hand on Ianto's thigh. "I'll do my best. Can't promise anything, but... I'll try."

"Okay." Ianto looked around at the neighbourhood they'd entered and frowned. "Jack, that's..."

"That's Mandy," Jack waved at her through the windscreen, and she waved back. "She's a cat."

"Oh... good." He shook his head and looked back at Jack. "I didn't realise that there were so many here in Cardiff. It's weird seeing them..."

"Without the Doctor?"

"Yeah. He makes it seem normal." Ianto nudged Jack, wanting the contact, and smiled. "I'll get used to it. Going to buy me a drink?"

Jack steered him into the pub with an arm around his waist. It was busier this time, lots of faces Jack knew studying and assessing them. The bar area was crowded, but they parted to let him through to Atraxet, who smiled grimly. "Captain, good to see you back."

"Rax," he inclined his head and leaned on the bar. "This is Ianto."

"Ah, the famed Mr Jones," Atraxet put the glass down and leaned forwards. "You did a good job without your Captain."

"I did what I had to do," Ianto shrugged and leaned next to Jack, their arms touching.

"And you did it well, be proud of that," Atraxet moved away and looked over his shoulder at them. "What can I get you both?"

"Cola for me, Rax," Jack said.

"Do you do Boruth?" Ianto asked with half a smile.

Atraxet hesitated. "I make it strong."

"I drink it strong," Ianto reassured him. "And it's unaccountably hard to come by in Cardiff."

A hand landed on Jack's shoulder whilst he laughed, and Figra purred into his ear, "We heard about your problems yesterday, Captain. Is there any way we can help?"

Jack turned, feeling suddenly weary as he realised that he and Ally had been taken twelve hours ago, and she was still in their clutches. "You already know how you can help, Figra."

Ianto passed him his drink and Figra smiled. "And I know that you wouldn't come here unless you thought we could help each other. Drink with us?"

They followed her to the smoky booth at the back of the room, where a variety of aliens sat talking in hushed voices, which stopped when Jack approached. One of them, a cat-man whose colouring brought to mind a Russian Blue, stood up to greet him. "Jack, it is good to have you back."

"Yunth, good to be back. It's been a long time since I saw you and Figra, and you're looking as beautiful as ever," he told the returning cat-lady.

She smiled and purred at him again, settling in to her husband's hold. "You shouldn't be a stranger, Captain. We might begin to question your loyalties."

"None of that, Figgy," Yunth chided her, gesturing to the spare seats and guiding her into one. "We all know where Jack's loyalties lie."

"But you also know that I prefer you," Jack grinned. "So, do we have time for small talk, or do you want to move?"

"We're eager for action," the Blowfish next to Yunth said firmly. "Social niceties can wait for another time."

"Of course," Jack took a sip of his drink and sat back. "The Grint appear to be pushing their boundaries. They've overstepped the line on our part, at least."

"They gained a lot of ground in your absence," the Blowfish said darkly. "They were too daring, and we too respectful of the bounds you set."

"And for that, I'm grateful," Jack assured him. "The last thing I want is an argument with you. I just want to be able to keep people safe, especially my people."

"They have one of yours still?" Figra asked, worried. "The girl, we heard she'd been taken."

"Yes, they agreed a trade, and then killed me as a warning during it," Jack pulled the piece of paper out of his pocket and placed it on the table. "Under the terms of the agreement, we can't make a move to get her back, they'll kill her instantly."

"But?"

"But I could agree a trade with you," he tapped the paper. "The location of one of their bases in border territory, for the safe return of our girl, and any weapons they have there."

"You think that the information you have is so valuable?" Yunth smirked

Jack was serious. "If I didn't think I could meet your price, I wouldn't have come to you."

They were quiet for a while, considering it, and then the Blowfish nodded. "We will get her back for you. You will find her here."

He bowed his head gratefully. "Thank you. You'll let me know?"

"As soon as we have her."

Jack got the call just before midnight and tugged Ianto out of bed with him. Neither of them was sleeping; they were just resting, crushed together in Jack's bunker and waiting for news that Ally was safe. They hurried through the quiet streets, back to the Black Star, where the front door was ajar and Atraxet's wife, Dira, was waiting for them. She ushered them into the living room to Ally, who was curled up in a thick Welsh tapestry blanket, looking scared and sorry for herself. Ally jumped up immediately and pressed herself against Ianto, shuddering when her wrapped his arms around her tightly. "We've got you princess," he whispered into her hair.

Brushing her hair back with one hand, the other resting on Ianto's waist, Jack smiled at Dira. "Thank you, for looking after her."

"She's a sweet girl," Dira told him. "You look after her, Jackie."

"I will," he tipped Ally's face out of Ianto's chest and smiled at her softly. "Ready to go home?"

She smiled back tremulously and pulled away. "Very. Thank you, Dira; you've been wonderful."

"I'm everyone's mother, sweet," she chuckled and led them back to the door. "Try not to be a stranger?"

Ally nodded and hugged her suddenly, then turned to follow Jack out to the car.


	7. Christmas Comes

**Author's Note:** I'm really sorry for the long delay, but this is your first update from Down Under. I moved to Australia under a fortnight ago, and I'm still finding my feet here.

This chapter is another of those where I lost my way, and it's taken forever, but the story needed to fit into the arc, so I hope you like it.

* * *

Ianto laughed and rolled Ally's chair away from Lizzy's desk, towards her own. She drummed on the desk and pulled her screen around to check the time, whilst he approached behind her. He hid a smile as she whined, sing-song, "Ianto, seeing as it's Christmas and you love us..."

Lizzy span around, running over her foot and clasping her hands together. "Please, Ianto, sir, we promise we'll be good and... and cover you for two extra nights. Or I'll bring steak and kidney pie... by which I mean ally will bring steak and kidney pie..." Ally rolled her eyes. "And we'll throw in cake... or chocolate mousse, or..."

"Fine," he threw up his hands and turned on his heel so that he didn't have to hide the grin any more. "Go home, eat chocolate and drink sherry, avoid the carol singers; leave me and Jack to cover the long, cold night on our own."

They were both halfway ready to go, and grabbed him to kiss his cheeks in synchrony. "Thank you! We'll see you in the morning," Lizzy squealed into his ear.

Ally nodded and tossed Lizzy her coat. "I'll bring breakfast. Don't keep him going all night, Ianto, he's not as young as you are."

"Hey!" Jack protested from the office doorway, already looking more relaxed with his braces hanging down at his waist. "I'm permanently thirty five, and my stamina is just fine."

"We know," they said in unison with almost matching eye-rolls. Ally patted Ianto's cheek and turned on her heel. "Play nicely, Merry Christmas both."

"Merry Christmas," Ianto called after them.

He and Jack stayed where they were, not looking at each other, until the cog door rolled shut behind the girls. Jack was the first to move, his footsteps slow and steady coming up behind Ianto. "They're going to get /very/ drunk, aren't they?"

"Yep," Ianto turned on his heel and put his hands in his pockets determinedly. "No rest for the wicked, though. We have to work."

Jack nodded and held his hand out. "We'll get a lot more done without them here. Noisy things, girls."

Placing his hand in Jack's, Ianto laughed and let himself be pulled in against Jack's chest. "You know, this feels more like dancing than working."

"You could be right," Jack hummed and made no move to release him. "Although I would have said... cuddling."

Ianto stilled and then shook his head. "No, dancing. Not cuddling, definitely not cuddling." When Jack sighed, Ianto slipped his arms around him more and rested his head against Jack's neck. "This is cuddling."

"I like cuddling," Jack decided after tightening his arms around Ianto. "And I like the suit. I told you they were warm."

"I know, I know," Ianto sighed and shook his head. "You're just shaping me into the image of your lost love, I know it."

"You could never be him. You yell at me too much," Jack teased. "But there is a certain physical resemblance, which led me to believe that your arse would look phenomenal in those trousers."

"Hmm, you scare me sometimes," Ianto confided.

"And yet you're still 'cuddling'," Jack pointed out. "Or am I just a good type of scary?"

Ianto shook his head and pulled away. "Back to work, and we might just get it all finished in time to have an early night."

Jack checked his watch and flopped into his chair, pushing it back half a foot. "You think we can get it all done in under five hours?"

"Oh come on, we have six before we can call it a normal night," ianto collected together the reports he needed and settled at his own desk. "I mean, when was the last time we got to bed at two?"

"Good point," Jack sighed. "Merry Christmas, Jack and Ianto, you shall go to bed at two in the morning!"

"Aim for one and I'll tie you to the damn thing until two," Ianto promised, prompting Jack to drop his pen.

"Thanks for that image, Yan..."

"Ianto," he corrected.

"Sorry, Ianto. You can punish me for it later," he offered. "And now, before we forget about it, should we do some work?"

They settled down to working their way through the piles of paperwork that no number of late nights ever seemed to get through. Incoming reports from UNIT and other Torchwood branches landed on Ianto's desk, where he responded to it if he needed to and filed it away in their own records. Jack got to send them in the other direction, half a dozen copies of each individual report to half a dozen different archives, plus summary reports to everyone who demanded them. End of year was a bitch.

Ianto was deep in the annual financial report when the phone rang, and his vaguely waving hand knocked against it and missed before Jack got it at his own desk, leaving him to concentrate on the intricacies of hiding what needed to be hidden in the construction budgets. Jack's voice rolled over him, quiet and serious, and Ianto let it drift into the very depths of his subconscious – it was being dealt with, it wasn't his problem until Jack made it so, did he really need to hide the invisible lift's work, or could it stand as was?

Something made him pause, though, and he hesitated with his fingers resting lightly on the keys as if to hold them still. The noise came again and Ianto turned slowly to look at Jack, whose hitching breath had disturbed the calm surrounding them. His back was ramrod straight and his head was tilted to the side, away from the door that led into the main Hub and from Ianto. Another hitch in his breathing – the only breaths he was getting, Ianto realised now that he could see him – shifted his shoulders again, and Jack set them more firmly than ever, as if aware that Ianto was watching.

Ianto turned his chair around fully and stood up, taking the two steps to stand behind Jack, and rested his hands on Jack's shoulders, fingers curling towards his collarbone and the pads pressing gently into his skin, twitching in a minute massage. "Bad news?"

Jack nodded and tilted his head against Ianto's wrist. "That was UNIT, calling from the Tower. Christmas..."

"Christmas in London," Ianto finished for him when he trailed off. His fingers started moving more determinedly and he added a stroke with the heels of his hands. "What is it this year?"

"There's been an explosion..." Ianto waited for him and shifted his fingers to lace them with Jack's, which he'd reached up to brush against Ianto's hand. "They think that Lucy Saxon's been killed."

"Lucy... The Master's wife?" He turned Jack slightly, flattening his further hand against Jack's shoulder and squeezing his fingers with the other. "What about him?"

"Someone was seen running from the building, superhuman speed," Jack scrubbed his free hand over his face and took a deep breath, which allowed him to regain some of his control. "They've got footage, they're going to send it over to me now."

"They think it's him, then?" Ianto eased closer and pulled Jack's head against his stomach, drifting fingertips through his hair. "This is not how I intended to spend Christmas with you. What do we do now?"

Jack turned his head against Ianto's stomach and shuddered. "We need to warn the team. He'll come for me; he'll come here to... to reclaim me."

"I won't let him," Ianto promised with his eyes half-closed, fingers running gently through Jack's hair and over his forehead and temples. "We'll bring the team here and put the Hub into lockdown, then he can't hurt them, and we can..." he trailed off and rubbed his thumb over Jack's cheek. "We'll sort it, okay, Jack?"

"I know we will," Jack smiled and turned his head to kiss the tips of his fingers as they ghosted across his cheek again. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't..." he gave a growl of frustration and pulled away, shifting papers and files out of his way. "It was nearly two thousand years ago, I should have got over it by now."

"Hey," he recaptured Jack's shoulders and squeezed. "It's a perfectly reasonable response. You check the video and call the team, I'll get the bunk room set up, okay?"

"Yeah," he sighed and tilted his head up. "I feel bad about calling them back in... at least they probably won't be in bed yet, though."

Ianto checked the time and nodded, it was still only eleven o'clock on Christmas Eve. He bent over Jack and kissed him upside down, then pulled back and headed for the door. "We're a family anyway. And it's better to be safe."

"Yeah, you're right," he managed a smile and an eye-roll. "As usual."

xxxxx

The bed dropped into place with a clang and Ianto brushed the rust off his hands; his back ached as he straightened up, complaining about the awkward position he'd held to drag the beds out from their stack against the wall. He'd got five out in the small space, two opposite three, and unlocked the cupboard with the pillows and sleeping bags in it for the team to get at when they needed to. They could arrange themselves as they wanted to, and he and Jack would stay in their room together.

Upstairs, the door alarms went for the second time since he'd come down here, so he headed back up to the main Hub to find out who had arrived. John was, as he'd expected, the first one to have arrived, and was sitting at his desk with his feet up on it, watching proceedings from over the pack of cards he was shuffling. Lizzy, Ally and Tom were shedding coats and scarves together, crowded around the coat stand in worriedly sullen silence. Ianto nodded to them and smiled tightly. "Coffee?"

"Thanks, Ianto," Ally sighed and did her best to return his smile. "Unless you have hot chocolate?"

"I'll put a big pot on, shall I?" He didn't wait for a response, just headed up to the kitchen area where he found Jack pulling cupboards open busily. "You were lying in wait," he accused when Jack fell still at his entrance.

"Not lying in wait, exactly," Jack corrected, straightening up to face him. "More like hiding."

Ianto sighed and slid his arm around Jack's waist, guiding him in and holding him in place with his other hand curled around the back of his neck. "He won't hurt you, not this time. I won't let him," he promised.

Jack clung on, as if reluctant to allow himself to, but needing it nonetheless. "It's not me I'm worried about," he said quietly, resting his head against Ianto's. "What can he do to me? It doesn't matter..."

"It does matter," Ianto stopped him, holding him in place. "Just because your body doesn't scar, because you bounce back like the eternal Weeble... Jack, would you say that it doesn't matter if I get hurt?" he pulled back to look at Jack and cupped his face in both hands. "Because it doesn't, does it?"

"Of course it matters," Jack took his hands and brought them between their chests, squeezing gently and holding them against his heart. "It... okay, point taken."

Ianto laughed and retrieved one hand to stroke Jack's cheek. "There we go. Now, I've promised hot chocolate for the troops. Do you want to hide up here and cook?"

"Yeah, I do," he sighed and leaned in to nuzzle Ianto's cheek again. "I wanted Christmas with just us."

"Sorry, madman called," Ianto released him and went to the counter to focus on the hot chocolate. "It'll be okay... one way or another."

xxxxx

Jack and Ianto stayed up overnight, needing less sleep than the others, to monitor the situation and keep watch. There was no fresh news by the time morning and breakfast time came, just a stream of reports from UNIT of fruitless searches and dead ends. Jack scrubbed at his eyes and got up to stand behind Ianto and comb fingers through his hair, scratching gently at his scalp with blunt fingernails. "Hey, anything come to you?"

"Nothing," Ianto leaned back into his hands and let his eyes flutter shut. "He's gone to ground somewhere, but he's UNIT's problem."

"He's ours too, as long as he's loose." Jack pointed out. "He's dangerous."

"I'll protect you," Ianto smiled and reached back to bring Jack's hands around in front of them. "We'll keep each other safe, won't we?"

"Yes," Jack kissed him upside down and seemed to relax slightly. "Merry Christmas, Ianto."

"Merry Christmas," Ianto agreed.

Xxxxx

John smirked at their expressions of disgust and held his hands up. "Hey, you have to learn to be flexible. Honestly – once you've done tentacles, you can't go back."

Ianto scrunched his nose up and shook his head. "Well, but... yuck."

"What, you're telling me you've never had your tongue up... Jackie boy, has he?"

"He has," Jack rested his hands on Ianto's shoulders and ignored Lizzy, Dan and Tom's expressions of amused disgust. "I've been kicked out of the kitchen."

"Poor diddums," Ianto grunted, brushing Jack's hands off his shoulders and gesturing to a seat on the sofa, next to Lizzy. "Were you doing it wrong?"

"Ally seemed to think so," he shook his head and settled down. "After all, she has lived though far more Christmases than I have, of course."

Lizzy curled into his side and tucked his arm into place around her. "You'll learn."

"Learn..."

"Like a mother hen with her chicks, Ally is with her kitchen," Lizzy snorted. "Mind you, she can cook and I can't, so I don't often complain."

"Sensible," Jack wrapped his arms tighter around Lizzy and looked questioningly at Ianto, who just shook his head. "Anyway, she says that dinner will be ready for us soon."

"Christmas dinner in the Hub," he smiled ruefully. "I am sorry about this, guys."

Dan sighed and shook his head. "If there's a homicidal maniac on the loose, probably after us, I'd rather be in here that with out there."

"With?" Tom asked, curiously.

"I didn't say 'with'," he insisted.

"Yes you did, you said 'with'," Tom narrowed his eyes. "Have you got a girlfriend you've not told us about?"

"No."

"Boyfriend then?"

"As if," he responded, shocked, then caught Jack and Ianto's expressions. "Sorry, guys. You know I didn't..."

"I've heard worse," Jack shrugged, avoiding everyone's gaze.

The silence dragged out, until Dan felt compelled to fill in the hole he'd dug. "She's called Emma, and I was supposed to meet her parents. So I'm dead whether he gets me or not."

"Meeting the parents? How sweet," John fanned the cards between his hands with a soft flapping rustle, ignoring Jack's twitch, although Lizzy looked up at him sharply. "Is she pretty, this Emma?"

"I think she is," Dan shrugged. "She also makes me the only one with an SO outside work, can I apply for extra time off on those grounds?"

"No," Jack told him mildly. "But I might let you stay longer each night so that you can get that report finished and not have to worry about it whilst you're at home."

"Nice of you," he huffed, and the others laughed.

Ally came out of the kitchen, carrying a tureen of soup carefully. "Can the chef join in on this joke? And it's chicken and bacon soup."

"Thank you, Ally," Ianto stood up to take it off her and set it on the table, on a mat. "Is there anything else you want me to get for you?"

"Erm... yeah, the bread's on the side, if that's alright?" He smiled and went to get it whilst she collected a stack of bowls from the cabinet at the side of the room and set about serving the soup. "So what's funny?"

"Dan volunteering for more hours," Jack got up to help her hold the tureen steady. "Ow, that's hot."

"It's got soup in it, genius," Dan sneered. "It's supposed to be hot."

John smirked and sat back so that Ally could put a bowl in front of him. "He's doing well with the intelligence at his disposal, Danny Boy, give him some credit."

Dan and Jack both opened their mouths and closed them again, whilst Ally smacked the back of John's hand with a spoon. "Behave."

"If I'd known you were into that, sweetheart, I'd had offered long ago. Maybe not at the dinner table... ow," he rubbed his forehead and glared between her and the spoon. "You are vicious with that thing, you need to learn to be a more forgiving mistress."

"No, dear," she went back to serving the soup with a dark smile. "You're just a lousy sub."

"I'll show you how good I can be, later?" he purred at her.

"I think that ranks as the worst Christmas present I've ever had," she shook her head and passed a bowl over to a sniggering Tom. "And that includes the snails."

"Snails..." Lizzy blinked at her best friend. "Your family really are odd."

"Wow, you noticed," Ally commented dryly. "Soup, dear."

"Thanks," Lizzy took the bowl from her and sniffed it. "Smells good."

"What else did you expect?" Ally smiled at her and dished out the last bowl of soup to Jack. "There we go. I hope it's alright."

"I'm sure it will be," Ianto smiled at her and reached for a piece of bread, sitting down. "For what we are about to receive..."

"May Ally make us truly grateful," Jack finished.

Xxxxx

They settled down after the soup whilst Ally finished the main course, flopped contentedly around the living area of the Hub. Lizzy had curled up with her head in Jack's lap, letting him play with her hair, whilst Jack leaned back against Ianto. John and Tom had their feet up on the coffee table from where they were sitting on the opposite sofa, and Dan was upside down in an armchair with his legs dangling over the back of the chair. They were enjoying the quiet and the chance to relax, having decided without needing to discuss it that, although they were in work, they weren't going to lift a finger.

And then it all went to Hell.

John was the first to react, and dragged Jack out from between Ianto and Lizzy, who were... He shuddered watching them and tightened his grip on Jack as he struggled to get back to Ianto. "Jack, stop! Don't make me..."

"I have to... we have to do something," Jack insisted.

"Right, so let's get out of here and figure out what!" John growled and dragged Jack backwards with him as the shaking figures changed. "Go!"

They stumbled into the archives and John slammed his hand down onto the control panel to trigger a full lockdown, trapping them in the archives and their team outside. He ignored Jack for the moment, letting the other man stress himself out quietly, as long as he left John to get on with the actual work of getting into the computer system and finding out what the hell was going on. The upgrade of the CCTV system was, in John's opnion, one of the advantages of the Hub having been destroyed – of course, they could have taken the opportunity to make it safer, more defensible, and easier to live in, but that would have been too sensible for Cooper... sorry, mustn't accuse the hormones. She had, at least, replaced the neolithic black and white security cameras that had covered most of the Hub with a full coverage of full colour, night vision capable nanocameras, which no one on the current team, with the possible exception of Ianto, if he was anything like the other Ianto, knew the locations of. As a result, he was able to watch the team in full colour wrongness. "Jack, you ought to have a look at this," he gestured Jack over without looking up. "Is this the guy?"

Jack's breath hitched and he turned away from the smirking face staring straight into the camera. "That's... Him."

"Wearing Ianto's suit."

"Yeah, I'd noticed," Jack scrubbed his hands over his face, and John tactfully declined to offer him a tissue for the moment. "Shit."

"As succinct, sensible assessments of the situation go, we could do with a better one."

Jack's hands clenched into fists on the edge of John's vision. "Check outside."

"What?"

"Check outside, the Plass. See if it's just the team, or everyone else." Jack ordered sharply.

John nodded and clenched his jaw, skipping through the cameras until he found the Plass. "More of him. Lots more of him. And more arriving."

"What are they doing?"

"Just... gathering. Watching and waiting. I wonder what they're waiting for?" he glanced at Jack and was gratified to see his knuckles whiten.

"Shut up," Jack snapped. "He's... he's coming for me. I have to... I can't..."

John's gun clicked loudly, even over Jack's heavy breathing. "If you don't calm down, I will shoot you for some peace and quiet, okay?" Jack paled, but he nodded. "Good boy. Sit in the corner and be quiet."

Jack did as told and watched him obediently, all the fight gone out of him. John watched him for a moment and turned his attention back to the footage. "Deity, he did a number on you, didn't he?" he couldn't help himself, he was impressed. "If he snapped his fingers, you'd go running, wouldn't you?"

"John..."

"You would, quicker than you would even for Ianto. You were his pet, weren't you?" Jack winced away from him and he smirked. "Okay, good to know. They're waiting for us."

"Waiting for what?" Jack asked him dully.

"Waiting to be able to get in. They don't have a fingerprint to get through the lockdown," he grinned over at Jack. "We're locked in, and they're locked out. At least until one of them changes back. Is there another way in?"

Jack blinked and surfaced enough to answer. "Yes. Through the Bay... the boat house."

"Could they get in?"

"If they have a boat. We... we can lock that down as well." Jack suggested.

John nodded. "Go and do that, then come back. Okay?"

Jack nodded and pushed himself up and out of the corner, then padded stiffly down the corridor. John heaved a sigh and dropped into the chair to get at the computer systems. Someone was using one of the computers in the main Hub to bypass the lockdown and get in at them. "Oh Jackie, you do like to collect enemies. Or exes... both, in most cases. You'd better keep Ianto sweet – he'd be nasty if you jilted him. Not that you would, can't take your eyes off him. I'd have killed to have you look at me like that," he paused and diverted the power from the main computer system to the lighting in the archives, shutting down the computers. "I did kill to have you look at me like that, not that it worked. Bastard."

A power drain appeared to the boathouse and another 'sector locked' light flashed on. John smirked to himself and found the cameras in the Hub again, then leaned back with his hands behind his head to watch the team milling around. Heavy footsteps sounded up the corridor, and he looked over his shoulder at Jack. "I've closed it. We're sealed in."

"And I've taken the power from their computers, so they can't get in. Now, I think you should tell me about him," John raised at eyebrow when Jack's jaw clenched. "Don't be shy. They have your team, they have Ianto," Jack twitched. "And we're the only ones he's not got. We should pool our resources and, to be honest, I don't have any."

Jack pulled the other chair out of the corner and settled down, resting his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "He's the Master, a Timelord. He took over the world, destroyed it for a year, but then the year didn't happen and he died. Properly, refused to regenerate."

"You didn't do it properly."

"It wasn't me," Jack glared at him heavily. "I didn't do it, I didn't want the Doctor to reject me again."

"Ah. Did it work?"

Jack just shook his head and rubbed at his face again. "What does He want? Why does He want me?"

"What were you to him?" John asked clinically.

"His..." Jack swallowed. "Punchbag and test subject for torture experiments."

John fought down envy and lust, and dragged back out the clinical analysis. "So does he want that back, or is it just because you escaped? Or... are you to be the bait in his trap?"

"He wouldn't expect the Doctor to come for me," Jack said quietly.

"Why not?"

"Because he never did," he sat up and sighed. "It doesn't matter, anyway. He's out there, we're in here; we just have to wait Him out."

"Will you stop capitalising?" John snapped. "I can hear it, and it's getting on my nerves."

"I'm sorry, the year of conditioning worked," Jack responded curtly. "I'm doing well to call... him Him, not Master."

"I thought that was his name?" Jack glared at him and John nodded. "Got you. So... what now?"

"We wait for the Doctor to stop him," Jack rested a knuckle against his lip.

"I thought you said he wouldn't." John looked back at the screen, at Master-Ianto smirking at him.

"I said he wouldn't for me," Jack pointed out. "For Him, he would."

John nodded slowly. "You are messed up."

"Yeah."

xxxxx

John was sitting in front of the screen again, watching the Masters' continued attempts to get to them through the lockdown, and Jack was filing reports, displacement activity to stop him thinking. "Why do you think we're safe?" John asked, as Master-Dan failed, again, to run the computers off the Rift Manipulator.

"What?"

"Why are we the ones who are still us, when everyone else is him? I mean, if he wants you then it makes sense, but me as well?"

"We're not fully human," Jack pointed out heavily. "It must be a genetic manipulation that we've avoided because of whatever tiny percentage non-human we have."

"Speak for yourself, I'm twelve and a half percent," John sniffed. "At least."

"Good for you," Jack flipped a file shut. "I guess he would have just taken me over and walked me to him, then turned me back when he had me. Or not. Oh God..."

"What?"

"What if they know? What if they're in there and conscious?"

"Stop it," John shook his head. "No point thinking like that. Not whilst they're trying to kill us. You're lucky I dragged you away."

"I know. Thank you." When John looked up, Jack's eyes were sad and serious, and so lost. It wasn't a good look on him.

He nodded and looked back at the screen again. It was easy to zone out watching them, and he let Jack file himself into oblivion in the background. When the figures in the Hub stopped, though, he sat upright. "Jackie, come have a look at this."

"What is it?"

John skipped to the Plass, which was now full of people, all shaking violently. "Something's happening to them."

Jack's fingers tightened painfully on his shoulder, knuckles absolutely white. "Reverse the lockdown."

"Not until I know what's going on."

"We have to do something!"

John dragged Jack's hand off his shoulder and snarled at him. "Do what, exactly? Walk into the lions' den and get ourselves killed? Sorry if I'm not as eager to throw my life away as you are, Jack, but I only have one."

He winced when Jack turned their grips and dug his thumb into John's wrist. "Let. Me. Out."

"Sit down," John told him, icy calm. "Sit down in your corner, or I'll make you." He twitched his gun out of his pocket again and Jack's eyes flickered to it. "You don't stay dead, I do. I will kill you to keep me alive."

"I know you will," Jack released his hand and stepped back. "You always would have done."

"Not always," John kept his gun to hand, though, and watched the screen. "Do you realise how hard it is to love you?"

"Yes. That's why Ianto..."

"Can't?" Jack nodded. "Oh you stupid... They're back!"

"I... what?"

"They've changed back," John told him. "Go, head for the Hub. I'll unlock us and join you." Jack didn't need telling twice.

Xxxxx

Ally picked herself up off the floor and felt large, warm hands on her shoulders, helping her to find her balance. "Jack?" she asked muzzily, leaning into him. "What the hell happened?"

"I'll explain later, come on," he guided her over to the chair, where Lizzy was cradling her head in her hands with a blanket around her shoulders. "Sit down whilst I help the others."

She nodded and let him wrap a blanket around her, then watched as he went to offer a hand to Tom, who was sitting up in the entrance to Jack's office. Lizzy leaned into her shoulder and she wrapped an arm around her. "Any idea what happened?"

Lizzy shrugged. "Mind control, of some sort, I guess. Does your head feel like it's full of coral?"

She contemplated the rough, light feeling in her head and nodded. "Exactly like it's full of coral, yes. Permission to steal that?"

"Granted. Hey Tom."

He'd made it to the sofa under his own steam, followed closely by Dan, and nodded to her gingerly. "My head feels like..."

"Coral," they said in unison, and nodded at each other. Ally added, "We discussed it. Trust the writers."

"When you put it like that... no," he looked around the room. "Where's the Welshman?"

"I'm looking at him," Lizzy blinked slowly, and Tom snorted.

"Ianto's in their office, still," Ally waved and flopped her arm over her face. "John's got him."

"Damn... I was going to go and steal their booze," Dan grunted. He lifted his head and yelled, "John! Bring the whiskey with you?"

Jack passed them, heading for his and Ianto's office, and nodded at them. Ad he disappeared from view behind the blinds, John emerged with a bottle of whiskey and one of vodka. "Didn't think I'd go for their decanters, but we can replace this for them tomorrow."

Dan reached out for it. "How's Ianto looking?"

"Groggy, like all of you," John took a swig from the vodka and passed it on into Ally's hand. "Jack'll take care of him, and I get to babysit all of you."

"How nice for us..." Dan took a deep swig of the whiskey and grimaced. "Can we swap?"

"Jack would castrate me, not going to happen," John shook his head. "Anyway, I think it's safe to go home and leave them to coddle each other."

"What makes you think that? The..." Dan pointed at his head and wiggled his fingers. "Coral?"

"Coral?"

"The girls, don't ask," Dan shook his head.

"Okay, well... yes," John nodded and reached for the vodka again. "He got you, not us... he's gone again. Jack will be up in his office trying to find out how. I'll go see if you can go home."

They nodded and he got up to walk carefully to the office. Inside, Ianto was in his chair with his head back and his eyes closed, and Jack was at the computer. He looked up guiltily when John knocked on the door and nodded. "I'm just finding out what's going on, I'll be out in a minute."

"Don't worry about it," John reassured him. "They have booze, they're happy. Is it safe, now?"

"I have no idea," Jack shook his head and sighed. "I... I think so, though. Stay a bit longer?"

John hesitated, but Jack's eyes showed the terror he was fighting. "Okay, need me to do anything?"

"Yeah, actually. Can you get onto UNIT for me? I'm trying to get hold of the Doctor and," he waved a hand at the screen. "Video footage."

"I'll do that, yeah. No luck yet?"

"Nothing yet. Or too much more like. I'll let you know when I find anything," Jack smiled at him and he left them to it.


	8. Blue Year

**Author's Note:** Still fighting with a total lack of internet at home. (Grrr). This 'episode' is sort of the calm before the storm.

* * *

Gareth Martin stood behind the cordon and watched the hellish scene before him. In fifteen years of fire-fighting, he'd never seen a night like this, never lost so many in separate incidents in one night. Somewhere behind him, the distraught parents were loaded into an ambulance to be treated for smoke inhalation and serious burns; chances were that at least one of them wouldn't make it through the night. Yet another stray firework, his second of the night and the sixth called in across Cardiff, had careened through their kids' bedroom window, and the parents had nearly been killed trying to get them out, to no avail. He tensed his jaw as another call came through and turned away, ready to do battle with another fire. If the presumption was right, and it was a bad load of fireworks that had done this, heads would roll.

The city had fallen silent by now, news spreading lightning fast of the shocking accidents. Those still awake in the bitter cold were being careful, putting their fireworks away, glad that they had put them out a little too early and got caught in the flurries of snow that had fallen, or decided that the weather was too bad to risk it, or just that they'd been drunk enough to know not to do it, and guilty that they had got away whilst others hadn't. Yet again, Cardiff was descending into a state of shock, and more than one person was looking towards the Bay and blaming Torchwood.

* * *

The phone was shrill in the quiet of the bedroom. Ianto reached out blindly with one hand to find it, running his other hand over Jack's shoulders and kissing his hair in attempt to get him to sleep again. "Morning, who's calling?"

"Um, Ianto?" Gwen asked tentatively and he sighed, resting his forehead against Jack's shoulder, but letting Jack roll over enough to wrap an arm around him. "Sorry, did I wake you."

"It's fine, Gwen," he shuffled in against Jack more and Jack propped himself up so that Ianto could tuck an arm under him. "What can I do for you?"

She took a breath, audible down the phone, and focussed on the task in hand. "There was an unusually high incidence of firework accidents last night, and, well, people think that aliens might be involved."

"Aliens?" Ianto sighed. "Okay, Jack and I will head in. Do you want us to come down to the station?"

"Yes please, pet. Do you want the details now, or..."

Ianto trailed his fingers over Jack's back, unwilling to move just yet. "We'll call you when we get moving and you can warn us on the way. It might take us a while, what with the weather."

"Yeah, of course, I'll let them know what you're on your way. Drive safely."

Hanging up, Ianto dropped the phone onto the bed and tucked himself into Jack's willing, warm embrace, splaying his hands across Jack's broad back and holding on. "Gwen wants to see us. Apparently there's been a lot of firework accidents this year, and people are looking at Torchwood."

Jack kissed the side of Ianto's head and tightened his grip around him, and Ianto relaxed slightly more. "It's probably nothing, just the cold and the damp making them go off badly, but we'll go and make nice. Unless you want to stay in bed? I can go on my own, if you'd rather..."

"I'll come." Ianto cut him off. "I'll have to get used to dealing with her sooner or later."

He'd started rolling away, but Jack caught his wrist and stopped him, looking confused. "Wait, her?"

"Yeah, Gwen," he sighed and flopped onto his side again, reaching up to trail his finger up and down Jack's arm without thinking about it. "She keeps looking at me like 'oh my God, you're alive!' and it's... annoying."

"Don't I do that too?" Jack asked, turning away slightly, apparently to find socks.

"You do, but you're glad that I'm alive, not that he's alive. You're... I'm sorry." He sat up and looped his arms around Jack's neck, resting his forehead against Jack's shoulder, sighing again. "You miss him," he whispered. "I can live with that, I can try to help. But I can't be him."

"I know," Jack turned back and kissed him softly. "She'll realise eventually."

"Stubborn woman," Ianto pushed away again and went to the wardrobe. "What should I wear, am I dressing to impress?"

"Dress warm, I don't think anyone's going to be worried about attire today." Jack was reaching for his usual outfit, but with an extra long-sleeved T shirt underneath his shirt. "Our primary concern is getting back here without losing any of our extremities."

"Why is it so cold?" Ianto asked, fishing out a black long-sleeved T shirt and a hoody with the logo of a band he never remembered seeing on it. "Blue... Whatever." It was thick and warm, so he tossed it on the bed and started looking for suitable trousers.

"Do I look like a meteorologist?" Jack laughed, pulling his boxers up. "It's going to last, too."

"That's going to make life fun," he shivered in the cold and started pulling on the first pair of 'outdoor' trousers that came to hand. "Might kill off some of the Weevils, though."

"Yeah, but then who'll have to clean them up?" Jack pointed out. "Shut up talking and get dressed."

Fifteen minutes later, thoroughly bundled up against the cold and with a thermos of coffee, they got outside to check the conditions of the road. Even though they'd cleared the drive the day before, fresh snowfall had turned the world completely white again, and they realised that they were only able to get out because they'd brought the SUV home with them so that they could close the Hub up as much as possible. Ianto unlocked the SUV and put the emergency bag on the back seat, climbing into the passenger seat without question whilst Jack got in the driver's seat. "Do you think we could call them and tell them that we can't make it?" he suggested, breath fogging in front of him.

"We could, but it wouldn't be morally sound, I don't think," Jack smiled at him and activated his bluetooth before he pulled out. "Gwen Cooper."

Ianto slapped his hand, barely enough for him to notice, and unhooked the earpiece from his ear. "Let me talk to her, then you can concentrate on not killing us. Hi, Gwen; Ianto again."

"Hi, Ianto. Isn't this... Sorry, you're on your way?"

He smirked and tried to ignore the cars abandoned at the sides of the road. "Yeah, we're just heading around from the flat, so we'll be a long while yet. You'll probably not get the whole team, either."

"Don't worry about it, pet. We're running on a skeleton here as well; the weather's awful."

"Nice weather if you're under twelve, though," he pointed out. Jack laughed at him. "Anyway, what can you tell us?"

"About the usual number of injuries last night, which was unusual because of the weather," she explained. "Far fewer displays, even private ones, but many more injuries at them. All the injuries were at private events, and there were seven house fires caused by them last night, with five fatalities at the scene and another two overnight."

"That's not good," he shook his head at Jack. "Is there anything that connects them? Location, socio-economic grouping, shopping preferences..."

"We're still collecting data on that, but Jack might be able to connect some of the dots we've got when he gets here," her reply was cagey.

He sighed. "You think someone has been buying fireworks from aliens?"

"We can't be certain yet, as we've not managed to find everyone who let off the ones that did the damage but... yes, it's looking like that."

"Okay. If anything else comes in, let me know, alright?" he raised his hand to his ear to hang up on her. "See you soon."

Jack eyed him for a moment before returning his attention to the road. "What did she have to say?"

"Considering the weather, there was an unusually high number of deaths last night."

"Not what we wanted to hear," Jack sighed.

Ianto agreed. "No. Gwen's got something she wants to show you that might or might not point towards alien involvement."

"They'll be long gone if it is alien," Jack gritted his teeth and shook his head. "I should never have left."

"Don't beat yourself up for it," he leaned his head against the window and watched the snow-white world drift by. "You came back, which is more than anyone could ask of you."

Jack was silent for the rest of the long trip into town to the central police station. They didn't see any other cars, and everyone except the children was staying indoors, tucked up in the warm, out of the snow that had started falling, yet again. Halfway there, Ianto called the St David's and booked a double room for Torchwood, knowing that they would always be able to get a room there, and that there was no way they'd get home once this was over.

After parking in the police station car park, Jack wrapped his gloved hand around Ianto's and squeezed. They braced themselves, grabbed what they needed off the back seat without getting out of the car, and then left the warmth of the car to hurry through the biting wind and driving snow, into the entrance hall of the Victorian-built station building. It had been touched up, both internally and externally, to accommodate the changes it had seen – electric lighting and computers not the least of these – but it was still essentially the same as it had been for the one hundred and some years that Jack had known it.

The officer behind the desk looked up at their entrance. "Captain Harkness, I'll let Sergeant Cooper know you've arrived."

"Thanks, shall we go straight up?" He'd started pulling his gloves off already, and shook melting snow out of his hair.

"I'll just check that..." she clamped the phone between her ear and her shoulder so that she could carry on typing whilst she spoke. "Sergeant Cooper, Torchwood are here for you." Jack and Ianto exchanged glances. "Right, ma'am, I'll tell them that." She looked up at Jack and Ianto and removed the phone. "She says to go right up, she has all the information for you in her office."

"Thank you," Jack grinned at her and swept out.

Ianto nodded his thanks and made to follow him. "Thank you, Jenny."

"Ianto... Jones?" she called after him, hesitantly.

He stopped and bit back a sigh. "Yes?"

"Oh, just learning names," she smiled again and turned back to her work.

Jack was waiting at the top of the stairs for him, looking curious. "What was that about? Did she know you?"

"No, just wanted to check my name," he pulled the door open and pushed Jack through it with a hand on his arse. "I can look after myself, you know."

"I know you can, I was just being concerned."

"Your concern is noted and appreciated, but not necessary," he said dryly. "Gwen, what can you tell us?"

"Ianto, hi," she beamed at him and looked him over. He wasn't sure why, as she'd only seen him a week ago, at the 'we survived Christmas and the Master' party at his and Jack's flat, but maybe he'd been avoiding her more successfully than he'd thought. "Happy New Year."

"We'll see," Jack cut in, resting one hand on Ianto's waist. "Ianto said you had something to show us?"

She looked flustered, but led them over to a table covered with notes, statements and a large map of the city. "We're focussing on the house fires, for the moment. Some of the other injuries might be related as well, but they're common enough that they could be unrelated, especially in weather like this."

"House fires are pretty common as well, though," Ianto pointed out.

"These were all caused by stray fireworks, though." Gwen rested her hand just below one of the sticky flags on the map. "Eight of them, all in the North of the city. Two on this estate, one on the next, one down here..." she trailed off and flicked one that seemed no different to the rest. "This one was collateral damage, two kids, mum and dad, all at home when a firework crashed through the kids' bedroom window. They never stood a chance." Jack stiffened and turned away, and Gwen leaned forwards pressing home her advantage. "Jack, people have died because of this; children have died. What do you know?"

Ianto's hands clenched, but Jack answered her without looking around. "Sounds to me like you already know the answer."

"Someone's been producing illegal fireworks," she started slowly. "And they've been selling them on our streets. In that area, it has to be the Roth; they won't let anyone else even sniff at it."

"Yes."

"We have to do something, Jack. They got in here whilst..."

"Whilst I was gone." He turned at last and glared at her. "I know, they got a foothold whilst I wasn't here to stop them. Why did you tell UNIT to butt out?"

Gwen gaped in shock. "I thought you wouldn't want them anywhere near Cardiff."

"The only thing I didn't want anywhere near Cardiff was me," he snapped. Ianto reached out and squeezed his forearm, and Jack sagged slightly, turning more towards him. "It's done now. It's too late to do anything. We've been mopping it up for months, now it's down to your boys to sort this."

"What are they supposed to do?" she asked.

"Make sure that no one can or does buy illegal fireworks, like they're always supposed to," he shook off Ianto's hand, but only to put both of his own hands in his pockets. "We'll do what we can, you do what you can."

Clearly annoyed, she nodded , and Jack steered Ianto out of the room and down the stairs, brooding silently until they got into the car. It was blanketed in white already, and gave them some privacy from the outside world, so Ianto caught Jack's chin and turned his head so that he could kiss him. Jack returned it and caught Ianto's retreating hand. "What was that for?"

Ianto shook his head. "Do I need a reason? Besides, you looked like you needed it."

Pillowing his head on his arms on the steering wheel, Jack nodded. "Ianto, why did I leave?"

He combed his fingers through Jack's hair, but desisted quickly when he discovered that it was wet and cold. "Because you were nursing a very broken heart, and it's not like she could have helped," he nodded towards the building.

Jack chuckled. "You don't like her very much, do you?"

"I don't like being... mothered." He shrugged. "She seems to have no concept of personal space. And she knows you better than I do," he added quietly.

"No she doesn't," Jack sounded amused at the idea. "She's known me longer, but she doesn't really know me at all."

"She knew how to get to you," he pointed out.

Jack sat up, started the car and turned the windscreen wipers on. "Yes, but she didn't know not to do it, did she? There's nothing more we can do here. God, that poor family."

"You can't save everyone, Jack," he pointed out as he fastened his safety belt. "As hard as you try, you can't. You did everything you could; it was inevitable that something would slip through the net."

"Yeah," he sighed heavily. "I just wonder what else we've missed, and how long it'll lie in wait for us."

"Things come in threes, though. We had the drugs, the attempt to chase us out, and now this... Maybe this is the end." He tried to sound hopeful.

"Maybe. We'll just have to be vigilent. St David's Hotel, yeah?"

* * *

It was only noon when they finally got into their bath, and Ianto cursed Gwen in all the languages he knew for dragging them out of the flat when they could have told her what she already knew over the phone. Jack leaned back against his chest, and he wrapped his arms around his waist, rubbing his head against Jack's like a cat. "It's always like this, isn't it?" Jack asked dejectedly. "I'll always be waiting for the next shoe to fall."

"I'm sorry." Ianto kissed the side of his neck.

Jack chuckled at him and leaned back a little more. "You're the only thing that makes it worth it. You know that, right?"

Ianto smiled. "I love you too."


End file.
